<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr> I´ve read about adding pasta, and a common denominator in that approach is the difficulty to remove the pasta.
Will the curing process should last 6 weeks... <hr></blockquote>
What about cooking the pasta first and then soaking it in a soup of amylase before mixing the pasta in with the aragocrete? Amylase is a digestive enzyme which will break down complex carbohydrates into simple sugars (which bacteria can then quickly metabolize). I was thinking you could purchase an amylase digestive aid supplement from a health food supplier and then dissolve the capsules in a tub of water which has been adjusted to the proper pH and temperature for the enzyme to function at its optima (it would be important to do this first as the high pH of your cement would likely halt the enzymatic function)
-oh wait, or you could mix in the pasta dry, let the aragocrete harden. Then do a first bath, wait unitl the pH drops to a reasonable level and then soak the rocks in a second amylase bath (again, correct pH and temp). After they've soaked for a good while the starch should be completely hydrolyzed and you could then quickly 'cure' the remaining sugars out with naturaly occuring bacteria in a third bath.
If you can't find any amylase, you could alternatively suck on each macaroni for about an hour and then put it aside 'till you've "processed" them all (saliva is loaded with amylase and is used in the first stage of digestion!) -Ok, just being a smartass, but you get the idea...
Then again, maybe this would all be a real pain in the neck?
[ April 10, 2002: Message edited by: polyp ]</p>
