GREELEY, Colo. — There’s a small group of people up in Greeley keeping a historic piece of sourdough lore alive — literally.
Now, they’re facing overwhelming demand for free samples of the sourdough starter they’ve cultivated for years, all because of a viral TikTok video that told sourdough enthusiasts all across the internet how to request a sample of their own.
The 1847 Oregon Trail Sourdough Starter Preservation Society, also known as Carl’s Friends, is the group that maintains the sourdough starter and sends out free samples to people who ask for them via email.
For those unfamiliar with breadmaking, a sourdough starter is a colony of wild yeast and bacteria. It’s cultivated in a mixture of flour and water and is used to leaven bread.
The group claims their starter was carried by settlers on the Oregon Trail. The starter — known as Carl Griffith’s sourdough starter, or the Oregon Trail Sourdough, or Carl’s starter — was a family heirloom of its namesake, Carl Griffith. It supposedly dates back to 1847, which would make the starter about 177 years old.