Oregon Trail sourdough starter draws well over 1,000 requests in a week after TikTok video
A TikTok video in January sent requests for Carl Griffith's 1847 Oregon Trail sourdough starter pouring into a Greeley mailbox. Mary Buckingham, who has kept the mailbox since 2000, called it "an unbelievable flood." This week brought well over 1,000 requests. A typical winter brings between 30 and 150. Anyone can mail a self-addressed stamped envelope and get a free starter back, one with a claimed lineage to the Oregon Trail. "It raises bread very nicely," Buckingham said.
Bakers anywhere in the world can still get a free starter with a claimed Oregon Trail lineage for the cost of a stamped envelope. The arrangement goes back to Griffith, who shared his dried starter with anyone who wrote to him.
Source: TikTok users flood Greeley mailbox with requests for 177-year-old sourdough starter (denverpost.com).
Written by the HappyGood desk from the primary source linked above and checked against it. Every story links its source. Corrections: [email protected].
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