Comment by koeng

1 month ago

I’m genetically engineering yeasts to make subtly flavored breads. I’ve already done grape aroma, now working on wintergreen.

Also working on a red chamomile (using beat red biosynthesis). Just for fun. Red chamomile tea!

The idea is to have niche invite-only genetically engineered flavors that I can bring to parties around SF :) what’s more special than a genetically engineered organism that you can ONLY get if I’m there? Good calling card

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koeng

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cookiengineer  1 month ago

Loosely related: my new hobby project is growing and nuturing sourdough that's optimized for gluten free bread, and I'm cultivating a couple of different kinds to find out which taste I like the most.

It kind of escalated a bit once I realized that different mixtures of bacteria cultures produce differently tasting dough/bread and that you can strengthen the grow rate by optimizing the external variables.

  • koeng  1 month ago

    Very neat! How do you standardize the gluten free mixes?

    I’ve been thinking about trying this since my mom is gluten free

    • cookiengineer  24 days ago

      Currently I have kind of two main starters where I am experimenting with:

      One starter uses the same schaer flour (which is based on a corn, rice and lentil mix). This one grows veeery slowly and needs lots of maintenance. But I want to keep it because that is the flour that also guests with celiac disease can eat. I'm trying to keep this one as clean as possible, same glass, same spoon, separate baking equipment etc.

      The second starter is based on spelt flour. That one grows pretty easily, I used some turkish culture for it, and it's the survivor of the previous experiment :D

      For both of them the grow rate is off. The first one grows around 1/5th until it needs more flour and water, the second one grows around 1/3rd until it needs maintenance. The standardized maintenance for wheat flour is 2x growth so you always have to fill the glass half way and then mark it with a rubber band.

jodacola  1 month ago

This is so cool. Also, it sounds like a cheeky plot to a zombie apocalypse or global contagion movie.

How subtle are the flavors? Unsubtle enough that an oblivious taster might ask, "Does this bread taste like grapes to anyone else here?" Or does one need guidance to search for the flavor?

  • koeng  1 month ago

    I’ve only done grape so far. It’s on the verge of subtle vs unsubtle. If you’re real used to smelling yeast OR are a woman who has a strong sense of smell, you can smell it. Otherwise it’s just bread.

    It’s kinda unfair how much better women were at smelling it (empirically)

anfractuosity  1 month ago

Sounds fascinating, do you have any documentation on how you modify the yeast?

  • koeng  1 month ago

    I really need to do a write-up. I kinda just whip up the easiest path and do it.

    For example for the grape, I needed to knock out some tryptophan synthesis genes so I could redirect the bioflux. Problem is that in bakers yeast they have a whole buncha copies of their chromosomes, so I had to knock out one of the genes and replace it with a different gene from grapes. Did that with a quick lil CRISPR switch.

    Had to electroporate tho because the transformation rates on wild/bakers/non-lab yeast are so garbage

    • amarant  1 month ago

      How much expensive lab equipment do you need to do something like this?

      "A quick lil CRISPR switch" sounds like "oh just my homemade fusion reactor hooked up to my kitchen warp drive" to me, yet you make it sound so simple!

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