Vintage Starter Mystique
My Fox Park Strain Sourdough starter is over 50 years old. Fifty-three years in summer 2025, to be exact! I’ve been ‘extremely’ proud of the longevity. I haven’t met anyone else personally who has been able to keep their starter going. We’ve had a few close calls. But, no mold or extreme spoilage. When I see reports of mold, it makes me very sad for the person trying to keep a starter.
Vintage is nice, but not the all in all. All vintage starters had a beginning. Each time it is used as a ‘starter’, it has a resurrection of sorts. A new beginning. Creating an element that is rather ‘bottomless’ appeals to the mad scientist cook in my soul.
Origins and History
I have this elderly starter because it had a beginning for me in 1971! In those days, sourdough wasn’t top of mind for very many people. The ingredients, packaged in a cute little clamp crock, were a souvenir. We lived in a remote, exotic lumber camp. We attracted many visitors and many gave us a host gift of some sort. The sourdough starter kit in the cute little crock was just that sort of gift. Made more special because it came from a friend.
Vintage starter has become a ‘thing’ among cooks who like to experiment. Sourdough is a leavening agent that has existed since the times that God gave someone a dream for bread. The earliest documented history is Egyptian. Today, we use the name sourdough for both starter and for 19th century miners who carried their lively yeast with them. Sometimes they dried it, sometimes they had a little container among their pack. In rough weather, they admitted to putting it inside their clothes for body heat to protect it. Freezing won’t kill sourdough. Freezing will hinder it some. And, of course, the whole bread idea is hindered by cold ingredients. If the starter is warm when it is set to proof, bread will be on the table sooner.
Dehydration or DRYING is now my favorite way to keep it and to send it on to others. I didn’t ‘get’ that concept until my starter was over 50 years old. I have mailed glass jars of live starter over the years. The season was always a challenge. Better warm in summer than to risk freezing in winter? What if the post office smashes the glass? Decisions! Decisions! Then, stalling, avoiding, and skipping!
Mailing wasn’t always the only option. When we traveled to Georgia to visit family, we loved going to a little grist mill near Helen, Georgia. The owner/operator was a sourdough collector. He offered a trade when someone brought him a sourdough starter. The Fox Park Strain was forty-seven years old at that time and the oldest which that particular collector had. I traded the starter for a bag of yellow grits!
Other Beginnings
If you prefer to be at the beginning, you can find all sorts of recipes and methods for a brand new starter in books and online. Additionally, you can add lovely gear for your starter (beginning or revived). I once listened to a cooking program where the host used the raw skins from organic apples, flour and water to create a starter. He was convinced the natural yeasts on the apple skins gave the starter a better chance. He thought he could taste apple in the waffles that were made using his starter
How You Can Have a Vintage Starter
If you are into collecting vintage things, I have the Fox Park Strain Sourdough available for sale at Etsy. 
The starter offer joins a group of other starters with different stories. The STORIES are the attraction along with the desire to have a piece of ‘history.’
Each dehydrated batch is tested. Then, it is packaged and mailed to buyers in a sturdy envelope. I include the story of the starter, my favorite method to reconstitute the starter for a new kitchen and some recipes.
I don’t mention it in the Etsy listing, but I also include two sturdy little rubber bands! “Why?” you ask. For two reasons. First, I want the little package of starter to be less likely to be flipping around in the postal system. The little bands help that little package grip the pages.
Second, When it gets to the new home, the rubber bands will come in handy. A starter jar needs a cover. A scrap of cheese cloth or muslin needs a rubber band to keep it on the top of the jar. The starter jar needs to be lightly covered as protection. No cover can let the surface dry out too much. There is a risk of foreign material getting into the jar, leading to mold. Of course, the fermentation can attract flies, especially fruit flies. The loose cover lets air yeasts enhance the starter, but keeps the starter safer from foreign materials. The second rubber band can be placed on the jar to indicate starter expansion. Those little bands have two jobs and they are dedicated to their tasks.
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