Sourdough starter from 1847 was carried through Oregon Trail. Now it’s viral on TikTok

Attention bread enthusiasts and history buffs – there’s a sourdough starter from 1847 that you can get your hands on, but there just might be some delay after it went viral on TikTok.

Carl Griffith’s sourdough starter was passed down by his great-grandmother who carried it through the Oregon Trail from Missouri to Burns, Oregon, according to Mary Buckingham, the Sourdough Preservation Society’s mailbox keeper, treasurer and webmaster.

“I found out about it on Usenet, it was an email option you could use during a time when the internet was new and not commercial,” Buckingham told McClatchy News in a phone interview from Greeley, Colorado. “I joined the group called rec.food.sourdough and started learning a ton about sourdough. Carl was also a member and offered to give his starter to anyone who wanted it.”

Griffith died in 2000 at the age of 80, Buckingham said. But Dick Adams thought “wow, this is a good starter, it would be a shame to have it disappear because Carl died,” so he created the 1847 Oregon Trail Sourdough Preservation Society.

After Adams created the group, they “planned to keep it going and keep it available,” Buckingham said.

But how can a sourdough starter really be from 1847?

Griffith’s family kept the starter in Burns, Oregon, and the group started with samples Griffith provided in the 1990s, the society’s website said.

Now, the society’s growers try to keep the starter away from other starters so microorganisms don’t get mixed in by accident, the website said.

What is a sourdough starter?

A sourdough starter is “live fermented culture of fresh flour and water,” according to The Clever Carrot. Once the two ingredients are mixed together, the mix ferments and creates a natural yeast.

Then folks can use a portion of it to make their desired bread dough rise, the website added.

The sourdough boom

At the beginning of the free sample mailing option the society offers, volunteers would only send out samples when they got enough requests that “made it worth mailing,” she said.

“For the first two years it was pretty small and very manageable” Buckingham said.

After newspapers reached out to cover the society and the 177-year-old sourdough starter, Buckingham said she “started to get slammed.”

Then during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, after grocery stores sold out of commercial yeast, Buckingham said there was “another spike in orders.”

But nothing compared to the power of a viral TikTok.

“I’d heard of TikTok,” Buckingham said. “I knew it was youth oriented and all of a sudden I got three 2-foot long postal boxes of envelopes with orders.”

Now, Buckingham said keeping up with the demand has been “really hard” as she now works eight to 10 hours, non-stop, seven days a week to fulfill requests 20 times the usual amount.

How to get your own

The society requires people who want the sourdough starter to send a business-sized envelope with either a stamp or a dollar to cover postage and their postal address, according to its website.

Buckingham said everyone will receive their starter sample, whether they opt for the free option or offer a donation, but she stresses the importance of following the website’s directions.

“If you don’t follow the directions, there will be even more of a delay,” she said.

Greeley is about 60 miles northeast of Denver.

This story was originally published February 6, 2024 at 3:51 PM with the headline "Sourdough starter from 1847 was carried through Oregon Trail. Now it’s viral on TikTok."