Leaven of Dough, Ferment of Gold: The Breadmaking Analogy in Medieval Metallic Transmutation.

This paper traces the analogy between the making of bread with ferment (leaven or yeast) and theories of metallic transmutation throughout the Middle Ages. For this purpose it surveys several medieval alchemical writings, including Hortulanus's influential Commentary on the Emerald Tablet. In this work, the ferment, an essential ingredient of the philosophers' stone, is portrayed less as an active agent and more as the passive, nutritive earth (terra nutrix) which combines with the soul (anima) in order to yield the stone (lapis). I argue that the background of these theories has both a practical and a medical-theoretical dimension. The practical aspect derives from historical everyday practices of making bread from sourdough, and using old yeast "starter" as a kind of inoculum to speed up the fermentation of a new batch of fresh dough. The medical-theoretical framework for the understanding of ferment action was likely provided by the widely influential Galenic idea of whole substance action (Gr. καθ᾽ὅλην τá½´ν οὐσίαν, Lat. tota substantia), initially developed by Galen in pharmacology and later imported into alchemy via Arabic medicine. Together, these aspects converge into a successful model of "inoculation-emergence," which underlies many medieval and early modern theories of fermentation, both medical and alchemical.

Einkorn genomics sheds light on history of the oldest domesticated wheat.

Einkorn (Triticum monococcum) was the first domesticated wheat species, and was central to the birth of agriculture and the Neolithic Revolution in the Fertile Crescent around 10,000 years ago1,2. Here we generate and analyse 5.2-Gb genome assemblies for wild and domesticated einkorn, including completely assembled centromeres. Einkorn centromeres are highly dynamic, showing evidence of ancient and recent centromere shifts caused by structural rearrangements. Whole-genome sequencing analysis of a diversity panel uncovered the population structure and evolutionary history of einkorn, revealing complex patterns of hybridizations and introgressions after the dispersal of domesticated einkorn from the Fertile Crescent. We also show that around 1% of the modern bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) A subgenome originates from einkorn. These resources and findings highlight the history of einkorn evolution and provide a basis to accelerate the genomics-assisted improvement of einkorn and bread wheat.

Bakery yeasts, a new model for studies in ecology and evolution.

Yeasts have been involved in bread making since ancient times and have thus played an important role in the history and nutrition of humans. Bakery-associated yeasts have only recently attracted the attention of researchers outside of the bread industry. More than 30 yeast species are involved in bread making, and significant progress has been achieved in describing these species. Here, we present a review of bread-making processes and history, and we describe the diversity of yeast species and the genetic diversity of Saccharomyces cerevisiae isolated from bakeries. We then describe the metabolic functioning and diversity of these yeasts and their relevance to improvements in bread quality. Finally, we examine yeast and bacterial interactions in sourdoughs. The purpose of this review is to show that bakery yeast species are interesting models for studying domestication and other evolutionary and ecological processes. Studying these yeasts can contribute much to our fundamental understanding of speciation, evolutionary dynamics, and community assembly, and this knowledge could ultimately be used to adjust, modify, and improve the production of bread and the conservation of microbial diversity.

Archaeobotanical evidence reveals the origins of bread 14,400 years ago in northeastern Jordan.

The origins of bread have long been associated with the emergence of agriculture and cereal domestication during the Neolithic in southwest Asia. In this study we analyze a total of 24 charred food remains from Shubayqa 1, a Natufian hunter-gatherer site located in northeastern Jordan and dated to 14.6-11.6 ka cal BP. Our finds provide empirical data to demonstrate that the preparation and consumption of bread-like products predated the emergence of agriculture by at least 4,000 years. The interdisciplinary analyses indicate the use of some of the "founder crops" of southwest Asian agriculture (e.g., Triticum boeoticum, wild einkorn) and root foods (e.g., Bolboschoenus glaucus, club-rush tubers) to produce flat bread-like products. The available archaeobotanical evidence for the Natufian period indicates that cereal exploitation was not common during this time, and it is most likely that cereal-based meals like bread become staples only when agriculture was firmly established.

The rise of alternative bread leavening technologies in the nineteenth century.

This article reveals how nineteenth-century chemists and health reformers tried to eradicate the use of yeast in bread, claiming they had devised healthier and more sanitary ways to raise bread. It describes the alternative technological solutions to baking bread, investigating factors that influenced their development and adaptation in the marketplace. A lack of scientific and cultural consensus surrounding yeast, what it was and what it did, fermented during this period. The conflict over yeast helped create a heterogeneous industrialization of the baking industry, changing processes and ingredients and creating new forms of bakery products. By examining the claims of promoters of rival scientific beliefs and technologies, as well as those of users and social commentators, we can see that technology's eventual adaptation and impact on society is not predictable at its outset. Exploring the relationship between differing scientific beliefs, cultural understandings and alternative technologies also shows how science and industry cannot be isolated from their social and cultural context. The examination of the nineteenth-century technological development of commonplace commodities such as bread, baking powder and yeast, also reveals and explores a story that has not been told before in the history of science and technology. Why it has not been told is as enlightening as the story itself, revealing as it does our own privileging of what is important in science and history.

Proteomics identifies the composition and manufacturing recipe of the 2500-year old sourdough bread from Subeixi cemetery in China.

We report on the geLC-MS/MS proteomics analysis of cereals and cereal food excavated in Subeixi cemetery (500-300BC) in Xinjiang, China. Proteomics provided direct evidence that at the Subexi sourdough bread was made from barley and broomcorn millet by leavening with a renewable starter comprising baker's yeast and lactic acid bacteria. The baking recipe and flour composition indicated that barley and millet bread belonged to the staple food already in the first millennium BC and suggested the role of Turpan basin as a major route for cultural communication between Western and Eastern Eurasia in antiquity. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Proteomics of non-model organisms. BIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE: We demonstrate that organic residues of thousand year old foods unearthed by archeological excavations can be analyzed by geLC-MS/MS proteomics with good representation of protein source organisms and coverage of sequences of identified proteins. In-depth look into the foods proteome identifies the food type and its individual ingredients, reveals ancient food processing technologies, projects their social and economic impact and provides evidence of intercultural communication between ancient populations. Proteomics analysis of ancient organic residues is direct, quantitative and informative and therefore has the potential to develop into a valuable, generally applicable tool in archaeometry. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Proteomics of non-model organisms.

New thoughts concerning the epidemic of rickets: was the role of alum overlooked?

Recent emphasis on the re-emergence of nutritional rickets has renewed interest in the etiology and therapy of this devastating disorder. At its peak in the 19th and 20th century, rickets was a major area of study for countless experts in childhood disorders and numerous theories abounded as to its cause. These included, among others, infections, confinement or intestinal disturbances, and were largely discarded after the discovery of the role of vitamin D and the importance of ultraviolet irradiation. Once a good explanation had been found for the cause of the disorder and the curative power of vitamin D proven, whether it was obtained from the diet or through exposure to sunlight, there was no apparent need to look any further into the etiology of rickets. But in fact there may have been other contributory factors, recognition of which might have lessened the severity of the disease or hastened recovery. One of these theories might be of particular interest to pediatric nephrologists because it relates to insoluble aluminum-based phosphate binders. Namely, alum used as an adulterant in bread in certain locations may have contributed to metabolic bone disease during the great epidemic of rickets.

Murdered bread, living bread: Doris Grant and the homemade, wholemeal loaf.

Doris Grant (1905-2003), a middle-class, British housewife, published numerous books from the 1940s into the 1970s urging her fellow housewives to bake organic, wholemeal bread for their families. This article argues that Grant's arguments defy easy categorization as either 'conservative' or 'progressive'. On the one hand, her targeted appeal to women reflected a traditional, conservative understanding of gender roles: women were, first and foremost, wives and mothers and therefore naturally responsible for family diet and health. On the other hand, Grant also pushed her readers to look beyond their homes and recognize a dangerous food supply system that was impinging on their daily lives. She demanded that her readers reject comfortable complicity in this system and preached the value of individual action in effecting substantive change.

Bread, beer and wine: yeast domestication in the Saccharomyces sensu stricto complex.

Yeasts of the Saccharomyces sensu stricto species complex are able to convert sugar into ethanol and CO(2) via fermentation. They have been used for thousands years by mankind for fermenting food and beverages. In the Neolithic times, fermentations were probably initiated by naturally occurring yeasts, and it is unknown when humans started to consciously add selected yeast to make beer, wine or bread. Interestingly, such human activities gave rise to the creation of new species in the Saccharomyces sensu stricto complex by interspecies hybridization or polyploidization. Within the S. cerevisiae species, they have led to the differentiation of genetically distinct groups according to the food process origin. Although the evolutionary history of wine yeast populations has been well described, the histories of other domesticated yeasts need further investigation.

Accounting for the contribution of vitamin B to Canada's WWII effort.

Canada began to fortify its flour and bread with vitamin B when it entered the Second World War. The decision was informed by the biology of vitamin B and therefore I suggest that the complexity of this political maneuver can best be understood by considering the specificity of the biochemistry of vitamin B. In this paper I will show that the specific biology of vitamin B allowed the Canadian government the possibility of a healthier population under wartime conditions but also allowed the government a variety of means by which to develop and organize food processing practices to this end.

Gandhi and the 'struck-off' doctor, Thomas Richard Allinson (1858-1918).

Gandhi visited London on several occasions. During two of these visits, when he was a law student from 1888 and again in 1914, he met Thomas Richard Allinson, a controversial doctor whose name was erased from the Medical Register in 1892. While in London studying for the bar, Gandhi was influenced in his search for a suitable vegetarian diet by the writings and personal support of Allinson. Although disagreeing profoundly with Allinson's views on birth control, he spoke up in defence of his right to hold them--probably the first time Gandhi challenged authority and an occasion which shows him as a tongue-tied young man but even then having a personal moral code that gives insight into the character of the future Mahatma. On Gandhi's further visit to England in 1914 Allinson, although no longer on the Medical Register, treated Gandhi for pleurisy, apparently partially successfully when orthodox medicine had failed.