Last updated on April 4th, 2024 at 10:42 am

American enthusiasts practicing the tradition of sourdough sharing now receive approximately 1,000 weekly requests, a significant increase from 30 to 60

Mary Buckingham, a retired meteorologist from Greeley, Colorado, explains that an old pioneer tradition in the US involved sharing bread starter with anyone who asked, a practice dating back to the early days of westward colonization. For years, Buckingham and a small group of bread enthusiasts have honored this tradition by freely distributing samples of their sourdough starter to anyone who sent a stamped addressed envelope.

This particular starter, however, is no ordinary mix. It is believed to contain a culture of natural yeast and bacteria that has been nurtured and kept alive since 1847, when a pioneer family journeyed west from Missouri to settle in Oregon. For a long time, the 1847 Oregon Trail sourdough starter remained a cherished secret among those in the know. But everything changed last month with the posting of a viral TikTok video.

“It’s just unbelievable,” Buckingham remarks. Previously, she would receive between 30 and 60 requests a week for a sample. “But this year, we’re already up to 7,000,” she adds. “We’re struggling to keep up. There are only two of us handling it, although I’ve enlisted my sister to help with the envelopes.”

Buckingham used to spend two to three hours a week fulfilling requests, but that’s no longer the case. “Now, I spend all day, every day, including weekends, eight to 10 hours a day,” she explains. “It’s just overwhelming. I haven’t taken a day off since this started.”

Sourdough is a naturally fermented mixture of flour and water that has been used to make leavened bread for most of human history, predating the development of commercial yeasts. Highly valued by bread makers, sourdough requires careful nurturing to feed and maintain the culture, which has the potential to live and grow indefinitely.

The 1847 starter originates from the family of Carl Griffith, an Oregon lawyer born in 1919, who served in the US Air Force in Britain during World War II. He had been baking from the same sourdough batch since he was 10 years old. His parents told him it had been passed down from his great-great-grandfather, Dr. John Savage, who had journeyed west to the state in 1847.

Since people at that time did not have access to commercial starter for their bread, it is unclear when or where the starter was first acquired from the wild. However, it has been exposed to various wild yeasts over time, which I personally appreciate,” he wrote.

Griffith was willing to share a dried sample of the dough with anyone who requested it. In the early days of the internet, he connected with a small community of other sourdough bakers online. After his passing in 2000, with his widow’s approval, they decided to continue the tradition.

Even though most of them had never met Griffith, they referred to themselves as “Carl’s friends.”

“It was a good starter, and our founder thought, ‘What a shame to let this thing die out.’ So we started our little society,” Buckingham explains.

Normally, Mary Buckingham would only handle sorting requests, which is a bigger task than it sounds because many forget to include a stamp. Another member in Washington state grows and dries the starter. However, due to the surge in demand – “this needs to die down soon,” she says – she’s now also involved in the process.

This involves growing enough starter to spread thinly in eight Swiss roll tins. “The stuff is sticky and stretchy, and hard to get it in the tin,” she explains. The tins are then left in a warm room to dry for two to four days. After drying, the mixture is blended, tested, portioned into small bags, and then packed into the thousands of incoming envelopes.

“Starters that are nice and strong, taste good, and are stable are prized and always have been,” says Buckingham, who has been baking bread since the 1960s, when her mother taught her at age 11. Carl’s starter “is a good, robust starter, it doesn’t need any yeast or anything to rise beautifully.”

Is it truly 177 years old? While impossible to verify, Buckingham notes, “Historically, people who had a really good starter always treasured it and kept it going. This used to be the way you made bread.”

With such a significant time commitment, why does she continue? “I guess it’s kind of a passion. It’s encouraging that so many young people are interested in it. I hope they continue to maintain it.”

Sourdough, she explains, is “like a little pet, you have to keep it fed and alive. And if you don’t, then it dies. Often, they’ll do that for a little while and then they’ll say, ‘oh, this is too much bother, it’s easier to buy local bread from the store.’”