WEBVTT

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Welcome to Spotlight. I'm a Bruce
Gulland and I'm Megannolette. Spotlight uses a

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special English method of broadcasting. It
is easier for people to understand no matter

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where in the world they live.
A man is in his kitchen. His

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name is Shamous Blackly. In front
of him is a large flat wooden board.

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Blackly covers the board in a special
powder. It is a kind of

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flower made from a grain called iron
corn. This is one of the oldest

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forms of wheat. Then he takes
a large ball of dough from a bowl.

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He begins to push and pull the
dough, kneading it into a round

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shape. The sweet smell of bread
fills the room. Then, after some

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time, he places the dough in
an earthen tacheen, and he puts it

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into a hot place to bake.
The dough begins to bake. Soon it

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will be a large loaf of bread. But this is no ordinary bread.

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Blackly is making the bread with ancient
grains and ancient methods. But Blackly is

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also using a special yeast. The
yeast will make the bread rise or expand,

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But this yeast is not the kind
people normally use. This yeast is

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also ancient using a special process.
Blackly took the yeast from Egyptian baking bowls.

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It is the same yeast used four
thousand, five hundred years ago.

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Yeast is one of the most important
ingredients ever discovered. People use it to

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make bread, alcoholic drinks, and
fermented foods. People have been using yeast

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for almost ten thousand years. Today's
spotlight is on the history of yeast.

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Yeast is not an ordinary ingredient like
salt or pepper, or sugar or flour.

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Yeast is a very small living organism. It is a kind of fungus

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related to mushrooms. You cannot see
it unless you look at it through a

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microscope. Yeast feeds on sugars.
When yeast eats these sugars, it produces

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alcohol and carbon dioxide. This process
is called fermentation. Carbon dioxide is what

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causes bread to rise, and the
alcohol gives bread its special flavor. There

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are hundreds of different kinds of yeast. Some are useful for making food,

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but others do not work as well. One popular kind of yeast makes a

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bread called sour dough. Sour dough
has a special tart flavor. Other yeasts

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make alcoholic beverages. Koji is a
yeast used in Japan. The Japanese use

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it to make a drink called sake. But there are even yeasts that people

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do not use much. These are
called wild yeasts. Humans first started using

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yeast in food before people invented writing. Experts think the first use of yeast

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was probably an accident. Wild yeast
probably fell into a sweet dress and the

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drink started to ferment. When people
tasted it, they found it was good,

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so they took some of the drink
and used it to make more.

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They were taking yeast and growing more, though they did not know it.

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These were the first brewers. From
this point, yeast began to change.

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People began breeding the yeast. If
they made something that they liked, they

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would repeat the process, and they
started breeding different yeasts for different things.

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The yeast began to specialize. Kevin
Verstrappen is a scientist at the University of

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Luven. He studies yeast genetics.
He spoke to Science Daily about this process.

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Sometimes early brewers had a very good
fermentation. They were smart enough to

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harvest the yeast. They used it
to start the next batch, even if

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they did not know what was in
it. Reusing the yeast to make beer

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separated it from nature. The yeasts
were changing in the brewery, remember Samous

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Blackly from the beginning of this program. When Blackly started making his bread,

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he was excited because of these changes. The Egyptian yeast was allah like sour

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dough bread. But what was yeast
like almost five thousand years ago? Blackly

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did not know what it would taste
like. When he finally tasted his bread,

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Blackly wrote on Twitter about his experience. The bread is light and full

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of air, especially for a loaf
made from these ingredients. The smell and

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flavor are incredible. It is very
different. You can easily tell the difference

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even if you are not excited about
bread. The first evidence of people using

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yeast comes from China. The ancient
Chinese made a d drink called Qui.

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They used water, honey, rice, and fruit. Drinks made with yeast

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had a lot of advantages. Of
course, people liked the effects of alcohol,

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but drinks made with yeast were also
safer than water. In ancient times,

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drinking water could be dangerous. It
could make a person sick very easily,

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but alcohol kills many of the diseases
that live in water, so you

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could drink it without getting sick.
Many civilizations used this to their advantage.

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In ancient Greece, people mixed water
with strong wine. This killed the bacteria

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in the water, and because it
was mixed, they could drink it most

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of the day without being drunk.
But making foods with yeast also makes them

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more delicious and healthier. These are
fermented foods. The yeast breaks down sugars

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that may be difficult to digest.
Kafir is a fermented drink made from milk.

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It is from eastern Europe. For
most people, milk is very difficult

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to digest after childhood. This is
because of a sugar called lactose, which

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most people cannot digest, but the
yeast in kafir breaks lactose. Because of

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this, kaffir has almost no lactose
in it. The yeast makes milk safe

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for people who cannot drink milk.
Many ancient people also used yeast to help

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in food storage. Fermenting foods in
this way is called pickling. Fermenting or

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pickling makes food last longer, but
it also changes the flavor. Kimchi is

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one of the most famous pickled foods
from Korea. Kimchi is fermented vegetables,

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usually cabbage and radish. In ancient
times, people made kimchi so that these

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vegetables would last through the winter,
But soon people began to make kimchi because

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they liked the taste. Today we
do not need yeast to clean water or

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to preserve food, but over the
years humans have developed a taste for fermented

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foods. We eat them now because
we like them. We continue to make

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them because they are part of our
traditions and they connect us to people who

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lived thousands of years ago. When
he made his bread, Blackly wrote on

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Twitter, this is very exciting.
I am so amazed that it worked.

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It is such a magical thing.
We can share food in a the genuine

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way with our distant ancestors. Do
you use yeast in your diet? What

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fermented foods do you eat? Do
you make any yourself? Tell us about

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it on our website at www dot
Spotlight English dot com. You can also

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find us on YouTube, Facebook,
Instagram, and Twitter. The writer of

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this program was Dan Chrisman. The
producer was Meggio Ozaki. The voices you

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heard were from the United Kingdom and
the United States. All quotes were adapted

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for this program and voiced by Spotlight. This program is called Amazing Ancient Yees.

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Visit our website to download our free
official app for Android and Apple devices.

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We hope you can join us again
for the next Spotlight program. Goodbye,