Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
4. Cover the container with a paper or cloth towel. The cover will keep insects out and should al-
low air to move in and out. It must not be airtight because we want bacteria to be able to enter
the container, which they can do through a towel.
Fig. 4.12:
Rice wash water, covered with 50 percent head space.
5. Place the container out of direct sunlight at room temperature for seven days.
6. After seven days the mixture should smell sour. Filter the liquid through a strainer or cheese-
cloth. Keep the resultant liquid. Discard and compost any solids that were filtered out.
• During the seven days, a whole collection of “wild” microbes will have grown in the liquid
using the rice wash as a food source. We are ultimately after just the
Lactobacillus
, so we
have to isolate that within the mixture.
7. Add ten parts milk to one part of the strained rice wash solution, allowing plenty of head space
in the container so air can circulate.
• Any type of milk will work, but I would tend to stay away from the ultra-pasteurized milks
because they could cause issues with the process.
