Kelly had the opportunity to spend 10 days in Whitehorse earlier this month, so I took the opportunity to have him bring home some authentic Klondike sourdough starter.
It came in a jam jar, well wrapped in plastic and carefully stowed in his suitcase. Good thing, too, because it had started to grow on it’s journey, and had overflowed the jar and into the wrappings when it arrived. I fed it and transferred it into a new jar.
The cool thing about this starter is that it has a very venerable genealogy! It was carried over the Chilkoot Trail in the late 1800s by a member of the Honorable Ione Christiansen‘s family on her mother’s side. Ione Christiansen was the first woman to be named as Justice of the Peace for the Yukon Territorial Government, the first woman to be elected Mayor of the City of Whitehorse and the first female Commissioner of the Yukon.
It is in the nature of sourdough starter to be shared, and a long time ago Ione Christiansen’s family member shared her starter with Charlie Taylor, of the Taylor and Drury family of merchants.
Charlie and his wife Betty shared some with their friend Millie Jones of Carcross, Yukon.
And Millie shared some with me! Millie Jones is a long-time Yukoner and is the mother of my friend Heather, who carried the jar of starter from Millie and delivered it to Kelly last week. Below is a pic of Heather creating some beautiful art (check out her website)
More than four generations of Yukon history came to me in that little jar of sourdough starter!
It’s sort of like a sacred trust, you know?
I have never baked with sourdough before and I was excited to give it my first try. So yesterday I made a loaf of bread.
Oh my goodness! It is good, good, good! Especially the toast the next morning!
I had some left over, so I split it (saving half for future use) and we had breakfast for supper last night: sourdough pancakes made with Betty Taylor’s dad’s sourdough pancake recipe.
The batter was thinner than the “regular” made from scratch batter that I usually make.
The pancakes were very light.
Delicious with butter and real maple syrup.
Afterwards, I fed the starter again and then split it into two. Half went back into the jar and into the fridge, and half went into a bowl to grow overnight so that I can bake another loaf of bread today. And maybe some muffins.
I lived in the Yukon for 26 years, so…
no matter where I go,
I will always be
a Sourdough.
And now I can eat some, too!
🙂
I looooove that you have all this history! And to think it sat in my fridge! 🙂
Great post Nita! and how exciting to be able to share this with you and see the magic you create with it! Keep on feeding it…and sharing the results with us all 🙂 big hug my friend!
I am drooling after reading that post!!
I love my sourdough too. I started mine the old fashioned way, by catching wild yeast. I would have loved to get some older stuff but we work with what we have. I’ve been experimenting with different flours and recipes, trying to replace all yeast with my own starter. I look forward to hearing more about your adventures with it.