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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Lifestyle
Esther Addley

How a TikTok clip led demand for 177-year-old sourdough starter to rise

A pack of 1847 Oregon Trail sourdough starter ready for posting
Tradition holds that the starter nurtured by Mary Buckingham and her friends in Colorado has been kept alive since 1847. Photograph: Andy Cross/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post/Getty Images/DP

“There’s an old pioneer tradition” dating from the earliest days of the colonisation of the US west, says Mary Buckingham, “that you shared your bread starter with anyone who asked.”

Which was all very well until TikTok came along.

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