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Potato Yeast

A fermented yeast made from boiled potatoes, hops, and wheat flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Eliza Leslie · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 5 ingredients
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Potato Yeast

Why it works: Wheat and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,373 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Potato Yeast

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the liquid

  1. Pare half a dozen middle-sized potatoes.

  2. Boil them in a quart of soft water mixed with a handful of hops until quite soft.

  3. Mash the potatoes smooth, not leaving a single lump.

  4. Mix in a handful of wheat flour.

  5. Set a sieve over the pan containing the flour and mashed potatoes, and strain into it the hop-water in which they were boiled.

  6. Stir the mixture very hard, then pass it through a cullender to clear it of lumps.

  7. Let it stand until it is nearly cold.

Ferment

  1. Stir in four tablespoonfuls of strong yeast, and let it stand to ferment.

  2. When the foam has sunk down in the middle (which will not be for several hours), it is done working.

  3. Put it into a stone jug and cork it.

  4. Set it in a cool place.

Correct sour yeast

  1. If yeast becomes sour, stir into it a little sal-aratus or pearl-ash, allowing a small teaspoonful to a pint of yeast.

  2. The pearl-ash must be previously melted in a little lukewarm water.

By Eliza Leslie. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,373 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Hops + flourtop 32% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together10 recipes

    Shared aroma: eugenol (clove, spicy).

  3. Hops + wheattop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Strong yeast
Its living cells ferment the sugars and make the liquid foam and work.
Potatoes (in the method)
Their starch dissolves into the liquid, giving body and food for the yeast to work on.
Wheat flour
Adds starch and body to the mixture, thickening it so it holds together while fermenting.
Hops
Boiled into the water, they add bitterness and aroma and help keep the liquid from spoiling.

The step that matters

Stir in the yeast only when the mixture is nearly cold. Yeast cells are killed by heat, so adding them to hot liquid can stop fermentation before it starts. Letting the mixture cool first keeps the yeast alive and active.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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