I finally found my notebook where I recorded my results with the various cultures.
Sourdough international stated about the South African culture: "This is the only culture we are aware of that leavens whole wheat flour better than white flour and is ideal for home bakers who grind their own. The flavor is truly unique, and the texture, sourness and flavor are unsurpassed. - It ferments spelt and kamut very well. - The nutty flavor persists. It is grown and packaged in whole wheat flour. This culture was collected by Gray Handcock in Kenilworth, a suburb of CapeTown."
I used 1/3 spelt, 1/3 kamut and 1/3 bread flour to start the culture, and I used my "isolation technique" by using my steam cleaner on every exposed surface, including the ceiling, of the small room that was once a "utility" room with a laundry sink until I had that sink removed so I could use it for my dehydrators. Those were covered with large plastic bags.
I only opened the starter in there and removed what I needed for each batch of bread and using that method, was able to maintain the culture for 8 months - at which time it became very sluggish and would no longer have enough "oomph" to rise the ground "ancient grains" which I had been using half and half spelt and kamut.
It worked fine with bread flour or all purpose with no more than 1/3 King Arthur white whole wheat.
In the meantime, I had activated, using the same isolation technique, the Bahrain Culture, which was extra sour and was very enthusiastic with straight bread flour or with bread flour with up to 1/3 NUT or SEED FLOURS. A friend had suggested trying sunflower seed flour.
I was able to keep this culture isolated for about 6 months, only because I got careless and opened the container without takign precautions.
The next one I activated, after a few months of no sourdoughs at all (kept the purchased cultures in the freezer)
was the one from New Zealand that was recommended for RYE SOURDOUGH and it did a spectacular job.
And that one I kept going for two years, the last year I worked and the first year of my retirement.
I also froze some, and was able to revive it in 2012 and maintained it until 2015 when I had open heart surgery and was away from home for 2 1/2 months.
If anyone is very partial to Rye sourdough, this is a fantastic culture and it resists conversion to "local" wild yeasts better than the others.
I still had a couple of cultures in the freezer and activated the Australian (Tasmanian Devil) a couple of years ago. I did not go through all the isolation techniques because at this point I didn't care if the wild locals took over.
My notes are rather sketchy on this one but I did note that it was VERY ACTIVE and produced distinctive sourdough flavor with HUGE BUBBLES in the crumb and made great CIABATTA bread in large, wide loaves.
The remaining cultures I had in the freezer were Poland and Finland and earlier this year I sent them to a younger friend who has been experimenting with sourdough.
