My neighbor thought my sourdough starter was a science project gone wrong

I keep my starter jar on the kitchen counter, and my neighbor came over to borrow a tool last Tuesday. He pointed at the jar and said, 'What's that, some kind of failed biology experiment?' I told him it was my sourdough starter, and he just stared at it for a solid 30 seconds. Then he asked, 'So you just... feed it flour and water? And it's alive?' I explained the process, but he kept calling it 'the blob.' Has anyone else had to explain their ferment to someone who thought it was straight-up weird?

2 comments

2 Comments

murphy.lisa21d ago

My own family still calls my starter "that weird jar of goo," so you're not alone.

ray21021d ago

They have a point calling it goo. It looks weird and smells like old socks. Calling it a starter is just putting a fancy name on fermented paste.