First off, I’m just a enthusiastic amateur, so I’m not sure the terms are correct. I was making a big batch of salamis recently, and only had a small amount of starter culture left. It got me wondering, if it is possible to propagate starter cultures, when activating them. Instead of mixing it in water and letting it rest for a while, could you use a water/dextrose mixture for example, to get a higher level of activation. I know of a similar method used in baking bread with yeast, but I’ve never seen it mentioned with salami making. ‘2 Guys and a cooler’ often mentions using a bit more culture than prescribed. I was wondering if this would be a viable method to get the same results.
by yahoomano
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I’ve wondered this myself. I know a large part of what’s in the culture packet is nutrient meant to kickstart the culture, but seeing as old school sausage makers relied on wild fermentation, youd think these bacteria must be pretty aggressive. I’m sure it’s probably OK to use a smaller amount than is recommended by the manufacturer, but I wonder if propagating multi-bacterial cultures would result in the more aggresive bacteria of the mix overtaking the others and killing them off.
Try doing one batch with a starter culture and one without and see if you can tell the difference in the finished product. I couldn’t and it’s hard to get these powdered cultures where I live. I just use yogurt or some liquid from homemade sauerkraut or the like just to help kick off the fermentation stage.
Do this all the time with yeast, so I don’t see why it’s not possible with staph and lactobacillus. When I made mead, I would often build a very large starter since the honey makes fermentation difficult to start. Feed more dextrose, but timings might be difficult to figure out for culture doubling.