An article in today's NYTimes caught my eye:
Starship Kimchi: A Bold Taste Goes Where It Has Never Gone Before
Ko San, the first Korean astronaut, blasts off into space onto the ISS on April 8, and he will be bringing a hefty supply of kimchi.
While bringing a cherished food on a long journey might seem like a simple act, taking kimchi into space required millions of dollars in research and years of work.
“The key was how to make a bacteria-free kimchi while retaining its unique taste, color and texture,” said Lee Ju-woon at the Korean Atomic Energy Research Institute, who began working on the project in 2003 with samples of kimchi provided by his mother.
Ordinary kimchi is teeming with microbes, like lactic acid bacteria, which help fermentation....
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