In continuing from the African Landrace and Heirloom thread, I appreciate you for helping me understand more about the potential with yeast being able to synthesize the cannabinoids in a natural setting compared to how they’re building them up with more modern gene technologies to facilitate those results in more sterile settings. I feel like I’m getting the gist of all this but the actual applied science and fundamental knowledge base for much of all this aren’t things I’ve yet learned. Which factors and bacteria drive fermentation and things like that are all a bit over my head at the moment. Product of armchair research, GoogleFu, and a public library card. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Conversations like these are very much appreciated.
This fermentation thing is all new to me and there is so much to learn. It’s so rad, I’m stoked. In the little I’ve been able to read the last day or so since finding interest in the topic and how it relates to cannabis I came across something that suggested the compounds of interest are often coined mVOC’s or microbial Volatile Organic Compounds and that some of them are quite potent in very small quantities so not only does it seem to not always require crazy large amounts to deliver significant effects, but it also makes testing for them a bit more challenging from what the literature I’ve read would suggest.
As it was mentioned before, that dank forest floor reference by @drgreensleeves. These environments in the humid tropics are quite literally colonized with bacteria for these fermentations to take place. One website specifically talking cobs mentioned the use of the part of the banana tree wrapping it’s trunk. Surely this natural material is teeming with its own unique combination of natural bacteria as well. Could it be likely that using various natural wrapping lends to unique attributes due to the various microbiome and mVOC produced by the varying bacterial populations of both the cannabis being fermented and the natural wrapping being used?
@Dirt_Wizard’s comment about fermenting in the stomach of a ruminant, in that example a goat, is touching on that I believe. I think?
I believe herding ruminants is a large part of food security for African tribes since antiquity so it’s pretty likely they wrapped some weed up in them for storage somehow. I know some parts of animals can be used as waterproof bags or pouches, could a ruminants stomach be used for this too? Or did they use the goat skin and it’s just a matter of lost in translation?
Back in the day it seems that people would do their own sort of quick ferment of wine in bags made of sheep skin. Everything touches. This is wild. Much love