Fermentation

Fermentation is a microbial process that converts food compounds into acids, gases, or alcohol. It can preserve foods and create characteristic flavors and textures.

Lactic acid fermentation: A microbial pathway that converts sugars into lactic acid, regenerating the cell’s supply of NAD⁺. Lactic acid bacteria use this pathway to acidify foods such as yogurt and sauerkraut.
Sourdough: A leavened bread made with a culture of yeasts and lactic acid bacteria. Its starter ferments flour sugars, producing gas and organic acids.
Yeast: Single-celled fungi that reproduce by budding or fission and inhabit diverse environments. Yeasts ferment sugars in bread, beer, wine, and other foods.
Louis Pasteur: A French chemist and microbiologist whose work established the role of microorganisms in fermentation and disease. His experiments overturned the idea that fermentation arose without living organisms.
Food preservation: Methods that slow spoilage and extend the usable life of food. Acid and alcohol produced by fermentation can inhibit spoilage organisms.
Alcoholic fermentation: A pathway in which yeasts convert sugars into ethanol and carbon dioxide. Yeast produces alcohol in beverages and carbon dioxide that raises bread dough.
Yogurt: A cultured dairy food made when bacteria ferment lactose into lactic acid. The acid thickens milk proteins and gives yogurt its tang.
Lactic acid bacteria: A group of bacteria that produce lactic acid as a major product of carbohydrate metabolism. These bacteria drive the souring of many fermented vegetables and dairy foods.
Eduard Buchner: A German chemist who demonstrated cell-free fermentation using yeast extracts. His 1897 experiment showed fermentation could proceed without intact yeast cells.
Food microbiology: The study of microorganisms in food and their effects on safety, quality, and production. Fermentation is a central subject because microbes both make and alter foods.

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