Fermentation in food processing#History and prehistory

File: Conical loaves of bread, Gebelein, 5th Dynasty c 2400 BC.jpg left as grave goods, exactly as laid out in the Great Tomb at Gebelein, Egypt, 2435–2305 BC]]

{{further|History of biochemistry|History of bread|History of microbiology}}

{{Main|Brewing#History|History of wine}}

{{See also|History of beer}}

Natural fermentation predates human history. Since ancient times, humans have exploited the fermentation process. They likely began fermenting foods unintentionally. To store excess foods, humans placed the items in a container where they were forgotten. Over time, yeast and bacteria started to grow. This led humans to unveil fermented foods.{{Cite web |title=A "Short" History of Fermentation |url=https://www.gesundheitfermentations.com/fermented-foods-a-short-history#:~:text=The%20fermentation%20of%20milk%20started,in%20Sweden,%20around%207,000%20B.C.&text=All%20of%20us%20drink%20or%20consume%20fermented%20products. |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=Sauerpower |language=en}} The earliest archaeological evidence of fermentation is 13,000-year-old residues of a beer, with the consistency of gruel, found in a cave near Haifa in Israel.{{cite web |title='World's oldest brewery' found in cave in Israel, say researchers |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-45534133 |publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation |access-date=15 September 2018 |date=15 September 2018 |archive-date=8 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190808201907/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-45534133 |url-status=live }} Another early alcoholic drink, made from fruit, rice, and honey, dates from 7000 to 6600 BC, in the Neolithic Chinese village of Jiahu,{{Cite journal | last1=McGovern | first1=P. E. | last2=Zhang | first2=J. | last3=Tang | first3=J. | last4=Zhang | first4=Z. | last5=Hall | first5=G. R. | last6=Moreau | first6=R. A. | last7=Nunez | first7=A. | last8=Butrym | first8=E. D. | last9=Richards | first9=M. P. | last10=Wang | first10=C. -S. | last11=Cheng | first11=G. | last12=Zhao | first12=Z. | last13=Wang | first13=C. | title=Fermented beverages of pre- and proto-historic China | doi=10.1073/pnas.0407921102 | journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | volume=101 | issue=51 | pages=17593–17598 | year=2004 | pmid= 15590771| pmc=539767| bibcode=2004PNAS..10117593M | doi-access=free }} and winemaking dates from ca. 6000 BC, in Georgia, in the Caucasus area.{{cite web |url=http://www.stonepages.com/news/archives/000498.html |title=8,000-year-old wine unearthed in Georgia |access-date=2007-01-28 |date=2003-12-28 |work=The Independent |archive-date=2019-10-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191009111003/https://www.stonepages.com/news/archives/000498.html |url-status=live }} Seven-thousand-year-old jars containing the remains of wine, now on display at the University of Pennsylvania, were excavated in the Zagros Mountains in Iran.{{cite web |url=http://www.penn.museum/blog/collection/125th-anniversary-object-of-the-day/7000-year-old-wine-jar-object-of-the-day-24/ |title=Now on display ... world's oldest known wine jar |access-date=2007-01-28 |archive-date=2012-08-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120826123906/http://www.penn.museum/blog/collection/125th-anniversary-object-of-the-day/7000-year-old-wine-jar-object-of-the-day-24/ |url-status=live }} There is strong evidence that people were fermenting alcoholic drinks in Babylon ca. 3000 BC,{{cite web |url=http://www.fao.org/docrep/x0560e/x0560e05.htm |title=Fermented fruits and vegetables. A global perspective |access-date=2007-01-28 |work=FAO Agricultural Services Bulletins - 134|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070119162605/http://www.fao.org/docrep/x0560e/x0560e05.htm |archive-date=January 19, 2007|url-status=dead}} ancient Egypt ca. 3150 BC,{{cite journal |last=Cavalieri |first=D. |author2=McGovern P.E. |author3=Hartl D.L. |author4=Mortimer R. |author5=Polsinelli M. |year=2003 |title=Evidence for S. cerevisiae fermentation in ancient wine. |journal=Journal of Molecular Evolution |volume=57 |issue=Suppl 1 |pages=S226–32 |id=15008419 |url=http://www.oeb.harvard.edu/hartl/lab/publications/pdfs/Cavalieri-03-JME.pdf |access-date=2007-01-28|doi=10.1007/s00239-003-0031-2 |pmid=15008419 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061209165920/http://www.oeb.harvard.edu/hartl/lab/publications/pdfs/Cavalieri-03-JME.pdf |archive-date=December 9, 2006 |url-status=dead|citeseerx = 10.1.1.628.6396|bibcode=2003JMolE..57S.226C |s2cid=7914033 }} pre-Hispanic Mexico ca. 2000 BC, and Sudan ca. 1500 BC.{{cite book |author=Dirar, H. |date=1993 |title=The Indigenous Fermented Foods of the Sudan: A Study in African Food and Nutrition |publisher=CAB International}}

The French chemist Louis Pasteur founded zymology, when in 1856 he connected yeast to fermentation.{{cite web|title=Fermentation |url=http://www.coe.uga.edu/ttie/documents/biotech.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120530081705/http://www.coe.uga.edu/ttie/documents/biotech.pdf |archive-date=2012-05-30 }}

When studying the fermentation of sugar to alcohol by yeast, Pasteur concluded that the fermentation was catalyzed by a vital force, called "ferments", within the yeast cells. The "ferments" were thought to function only within living organisms. Pasteur wrote that "Alcoholic fermentation is an act correlated with the life and organization of the yeast cells, not with the death or putrefaction of the cells."{{cite journal |author=Dubos, J. |year= 1951 |title= Louis Pasteur: Free Lance of Science, Gollancz. Quoted in Manchester K. L. (1995) Louis Pasteur (1822–1895)--chance and the prepared mind |journal=Trends in Biotechnology |volume=13 |issue=12 |pages=511–515 |pmid=8595136 |doi=10.1016/S0167-7799(00)89014-9}}

Nevertheless, it was known that yeast extracts can ferment sugar even in the absence of living yeast cells. While studying this process in 1897, the German chemist and zymologist Eduard Buchner of Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany, found that sugar was fermented even when there were no living yeast cells in the mixture,{{Cite web |url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1907/buchner-bio.html |title=Nobel Laureate Biography of Eduard Buchner |access-date=2009-08-26 |archive-date=2016-06-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160629093844/http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1907/buchner-bio.html |url-status=live }} by an enzyme complex secreted by yeast that he termed zymase.{{cite web|url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1929/press.html|title=The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1929|access-date=2007-01-28|archive-date=2006-08-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060827092714/http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1929/press.html|url-status=live}} In 1907 he received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his research and discovery of "cell-free fermentation".

One year earlier, in 1906, ethanol fermentation studies led to the early discovery of oxidized nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD⁺).{{cite journal | first=A. | last=Harden |author2=Young, W.J. | title=The Alcoholic Ferment of Yeast-Juice | journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society of London | edition=Series B, Containing Papers of a Biological Character | volume=78 |date=October 1906 | pages=369–375 | issue=526| doi=10.1098/rspb.1906.0070 | doi-access=free }}{{Verify source|date=January 2023|reason=Dated primary source with wide page range}}

{{Further|Microbes in human culture|List of microorganisms used in food and beverage preparation}}

File:Beer and bread.jpg

Food fermentation is the conversion of sugars and other carbohydrates into alcohol or preservative organic acids and carbon dioxide. All three products have found human uses. The production of alcohol is made use of when fruit juices are converted to wine, when grains are made into beer, and when foods rich in starch, such as potatoes, are fermented and then distilled to make spirits such as gin and vodka. The production of carbon dioxide is used to leaven bread. The production of organic acids is exploited to preserve and flavor vegetables and dairy products.{{cite book |vauthors=Hui YH, Meunier-Goddik L, Josephsen J, Nip WK, Stanfield PS |title=Handbook of Food and Beverage Fermentation Technology |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PC_O7u1NPZEC&pg=PA27 |year=2004 |publisher=CRC Press |isbn=978-0-8247-5122-7 |pages=27 and passim |access-date=2016-10-22 |archive-date=2023-03-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230317112621/https://books.google.com/books?id=PC_O7u1NPZEC&pg=PA27 |url-status=live }}

Food fermentation serves five main purposes: to enrich the diet through development of a diversity of flavors, aromas, and textures in food substrates; to preserve substantial amounts of food through lactic acid, alcohol, acetic acid, and alkaline{{cite book|last1=Sarkar|first1=Prabir K.|last2=Nout|first2=M.J. Robert|title=Handbook of Indigenous Foods Involving Alkaline Fermentation|date=2014|publisher=CRC Press|isbn=9781466565302}} fermentations; to enrich food substrates with protein, essential amino acids, and vitamins; to eliminate antinutrients; and to reduce cooking time and the associated use of fuel.{{cite book |editor=Steinkraus, K.H. |date=1995 |title=Handbook of Indigenous Fermented Foods |publisher=Marcel Dekker}}

Beverages produced through fermentation have likely universally been associated with ceremonies and festivals. There is some understanding of how they have been consumed in such contexts, derived from the construction of drinkware, and residue contained therein.{{Cite book |last=Moore |first=Katherine M |title=Routledge International Handbook of Food Studies |publisher=Routledge |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-415-78264-7 |editor-last=Albala |editor-first=Ken |editor-link=Ken Albala |location=Oxford & New York |page=78 |chapter=The archeology of food}}

File:Natto mixed.jpg, a Japanese fermented soybean food made using Bacillus species]]

{{further|List of fermented foods}}

• Worldwide: alcohol (beer, wine), vinegar, olives, yogurt, bread, cheese
• Asia
• East and Southeast Asia: amazake, atchara, belacan, burong mangga, com ruou, doenjang, douchi, fish sauce, lah pet, lambanog, kimchi, kombucha, leppet-so, narezushi, miso, nata de coco, nattō, ngapi, oncom, padaek, pla ra, prahok, ruou nep, sake, shrimp paste, soju, soy sauce, stinky tofu, tape, tempeh, tempoyak, zha cai
• Central Asia: kumis, kefir, shubat, qatiq (yogurt)
• South Asia: achar, appam, dosa, dhokla, dahi (yogurt), idli, mixed pickle, ngari, sinki, tongba, paneer
• Africa: garri, injera, laxoox, mageu, ogi, ogiri, iru
• Americas: chicha, chocolate, vanilla, hot sauce, tepache, tibicos, pulque, muktuk, kiviak, parakari
• Middle East: torshi, boza
• Europe: sourdough bread, elderberry wine, kombucha, pickling, rakfisk, sauerkraut, pickled cucumber, surströmming, mead, kvass, salami, sucuk, prosciutto, cultured milk products such as quark, kefir, filmjölk, crème fraîche, smetana, skyr, rakı, tupí, żur.
• Oceania: poi, kānga pirau

{{main|List of fermented foods}}

Cheonggukjang, doenjang, fermented bean curd, miso, natto, soy sauce, stinky tofu, tempeh, oncom, soybean paste, Beijing mung bean milk, kinama, iru, thua nao

File:BatterOnTheBrink.jpgs and dosas]]

Amazake, beer, bread, choujiu, gamju, injera, kvass, makgeolli, murri, ogi, rejuvelac, sake, sikhye, sourdough, sowans, rice wine, malt whisky, grain whisky, idli, dosa, Bangla (drink)

vodka, boza, and chicha, among others.

Kimchi, mixed pickle, sauerkraut, Indian pickle, gundruk, tursu

File:Cocoa farmer David Kebu Jnr holding fermenting cocoa beans. (10687048615).jpg

{{main|Brewing|Winemaking}}

Wine, vinegar, cider, perry, brandy, atchara, nata de coco, burong mangga, asinan, pickling, vişinată, chocolate, rakı, aragh sagi, chacha, tempoyak

Mead, metheglin, tej

File:Clara Peeters - Still Life with Cheeses, Almonds and Pretzels.jpg, Clara Peeters, c. 1615]]

{{main|Dairy product}}

Some kinds of cheese also, kefir, kumis (mare milk), shubat (camel milk), ayran, cultured milk products such as quark, filmjölk, crème fraîche, smetana, skyr, and yogurt

{{main|Fermented fish}}

Bagoong, faseekh, fish sauce, Garum, Hákarl, jeotgal, ngapi, padaek, pla ra, prahok, rakfisk, shrimp paste, surströmming, shidal

{{Main|Fermented meat}}

File:Chin som mok.JPG made with grilled, banana leaf-wrapped pork (both skin and meat) that has been fermented with glutinous rice.]]

Chorizo, salami, sucuk, pepperoni, nem chua, som moo, saucisson, fermented sausage

Pu-erh tea, Kombucha, Lahpet, Goishicha

{{See also|Pickling#Possible health hazards of pickled vegetables}}

Sterilization is an important factor to consider during the fermentation of foods. Failing to completely remove any microbes from equipment and storing vessels may result in the multiplication of harmful organisms within the ferment, potentially increasing the risks of food borne illnesses such as botulism. However, botulism in vegetable ferments is only possible when not properly canned. The production of off smells and discoloration may be indications that harmful bacteria may have been introduced to the food.

Alaska has witnessed a steady increase of cases of botulism since 1985.{{cite web |url=http://www.phppo.cdc.gov/phtn/botulism/alaska/alaska.asp |title=Why does Alaska have more botulism |publisher=Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S. federal agency) |access-date=18 July 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060807175105/http://www.phppo.cdc.gov/phtn/botulism/alaska/alaska.asp |archive-date=7 August 2006 }} It has more cases of botulism than any other state in the United States of America. This is caused by the traditional Alaska Native practice of allowing animal products such as whole fish, fish heads, walrus, sea lion, and whale flippers, beaver tails, seal oil, and birds, to ferment for an extended period of time before being consumed. The risk is exacerbated when a plastic container is used for this purpose instead of the old-fashioned, traditional method, a grass-lined hole, as the Clostridium botulinum bacteria thrive in the anaerobic conditions created by the air-tight enclosure in plastic.

Research has found that fermented food contains a carcinogenic by-product, ethyl carbamate (urethane).{{cite web |url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070307152917.htm |title=New Link Between Wine, Fermented Food And Cancer |publisher=ScienceDaily |access-date=10 October 2012 |archive-date=11 March 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070311224752/https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070307152917.htm |url-status=live }} "A 2009 review of the existing studies conducted across Asia concluded that regularly eating pickled vegetables roughly doubles a person's risk for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma."{{cite web |url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2011/06/the_who_says_cellphonesand_picklesmay_cause_cancer.html |title=The WHO Says Cellphones—and Pickles—May Cause Cancer |date=June 2011 |publisher=Slate |access-date=10 October 2012 |archive-date=29 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110929095044/http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2011/06/the_who_says_cellphonesand_picklesmay_cause_cancer.html |url-status=live }}

{{Columnslist|colwidth=30em|

• {{annotated link|Bletting}}
• Brining
• {{annotated link|Corn smut}}
• Curing (food preservation)
• {{annotated link|Fermentation in winemaking}}
• {{annotated link|Fermentation lock}}
• {{annotated link|Food microbiology}}
• {{annotated link|Industrial fermentation}}
• {{annotated link|Industrial microbiology}}
• {{annotated link|Lactic acid bacteria}}
• {{annotated link|Lactic acid fermentation}}
• Pickling
• Symbiotic fermentation
• {{annotated link|Yeast in winemaking}}

}}

{{reflist}}

• [http://www.scienceaid.co.uk/biology/microorganisms/fermentation.html Science aid: Fermentation - Process and uses of fermentation]
• [http://www.fao.org/docrep/x2184e/x2184e00.htm Fermented cereals. A global perspective - FAO 1999]

{{Cooking Techniques}}

{{Food preservation}}

{{Plant-based diets}}

{{Authority control}}

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