Life-form of the Month: Yeast

opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com

34 points·sharpn··7 comments

I will gladly appoint the Saccharomyces genus the fungus of all millennia, for all it has given us in beer, wine, yoghurt and other food, medicine, and beyond.

Okay I can agree with that.

But the title of life form of all millennia has to go to the mitochondria.

After all there wouldn't be any multicelled animals if it wasn't for it.

What about Brettanomyces which is also used in many beers either by itself, in conjunction with Saccharomyces, or in conjunction with other fermenters like lactobacillus and pediococcus (for sour beer styles like Lambics)?

I don't know anything about that genus of fungi. Is it as "versatile" as the Saccharomyces genus? (i.e., does it give us food and medicine as well?)

That is a good question. Since I've only just started exploring the possibility of using a Brett strain in a batch of beer (I have ordered a Brettanomyces Claussenii culture) I haven't really explored it's use in other areas.

For what it's worth Yoghurt is produced by bacterial fermentation usually with Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus, not by a Saccharomyces ferment.

This article FAR understates the vast superiority of Saccharomyces. Until some other organism that can pack as much punch per square nanometer comes along, it will reign supreme!

It's true. And yogurt is just plain awesome.

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