Scientists bake sourdough bread using yeast from a 5,000-year-old mummy

In an intriguing discovery, scientists have baked a sourdough loaf of bread using yeast strains harvested from a 5,000-year-old mummy, and they now plan to see if they can use them to brew beer too. 

Researchers, after achieving this breakthrough now plan to partner with specialized food scientists and the German brewer Weihenstephan to see if the same yeast strains can be used to brew beer. This work is being conducted by microbiologist Mohamed Sarhan at the Institute for Mummy Studies at Eurac Research.

Microbiologist Mohamed Sarhan said in his statements posted to the website of Eurac Research: “Eventually we obtained a completely normal dough that rose within 24 hours-basically just like with ordinary yeast.”

“I’ve never baked bread before – and it showed. So, the result definitely had room for improvement. But as I said, these were our very first experiments,” Sarhan further added.

While these specific yeast strains only thrive in cold conditions, scientists believe that they entered Otzi’s body fairly soon following his death rather than during his actual lifetime.

Otzi has provided profound wisdom into primitive European life as an incredibly preserved prehistoric specimen. Notably, his body preserves the record for the oldest tattoos ever discovered with a total of 61 markings.

Additionally, he is believed to have been murdered high in the mountains after being shot in the back by an arrow, making his death one of the world’s oldest cold cases.