Re: Freezing broad beans in the pod

In article <g54i0e$9mu$1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>, Dan Smithers <dan@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> writes:
|> gavin wrote:
|>
|> >> Stick to your 'directly'.  Yeast can also use starch, but the
mechanism
|> >> involves quite a lot more complexity in converting it to sugar.
|> > 
|> > That depends on the strain of yeast. Years ago one of the home
winemaking 
|> > supply producers used to market a yeast which would ferment a
pro****tion of 
|> > starch and so was great for rice wine and similar. 
|> 
|> The usual technique with starch is to use an enzyme to break it down
|> into sugars before fermentation. It's called brewing and is what is
done
|> for beer.

Yes, but that is a gross over-simplification; look up the acid hydrolysis
of starch for another mechanism, which is also one of the ones used by
yeast.

|> The problem with starches is that they take a _really_ long time to
|> ferment. I also seem to remember that they are insoluble in water and
|> tend to settle out.

That is misleading.  It is the conversion that takes the time.  In
brewing, it is hastened and takes only an hour or so; acid hydrolysis
is typically slower at the near-neutral pH in most fermentations.

Yes, they are insoluble.  That is essentially the only difference
between a sugar and a starch.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.