Deceased yeast

From LizCrain — Blog by Liz Crain

January 10, 2009

I’m determined to make some kind of use of the yeasty sediment -- the lees -- left behind from our racked hard cider.

I just read this in Sandor Ellix Katz’s Chelsea Green title -- Wild Fermentation. It applies to wine lees but I’m pretty sure cider lees can be substituted. I don’t know why not:

“When you rack and bottle wines, you are left with yeasty sediment at the bottom of the fermenting vessel. This sediment is not pretty, so generally it is not bottled or served. But all the deceased yeast is full of B vitamins. If you’ve ever used nutritional yeast, it is essentially the same thing as this.

“Wine dregs make a rich and flavorful soup base. Try following a recipe for French onion soup, substituting wine dregs for one-quarter of the liquid. Be sure to boil it for awhile to cook off the alcohol. Inhale the fumes for an intense sensory experience!”

Well, I’d love another intense sensory experience so I just might. We do have a lot of onions in the house...