Fermentation Adds Pleasure to Our Diet

Chemistry, Food
[caption id="attachment_23185" align="alignright" width="480"] Sausages, mashed potatoes, and sauerkraut.[/caption] When most people think of fermentation, they think of fruits rich in sugar, or of potatoes or other starches. In most cases, they are thinking in terms of alcoholic beverages, Grog! But it is not limited alcoholic beverages. For instance, did you know sauerkraut, coffee and chocolate are made utilizing fermentation? Let's Define Fermentation When yeast converts sugar, it yields alcohol plus carbon dioxide gas. When yeast is used to bake bread, the alcohol and the gas cause the bread to rise. But alcohol in beverages, involves no cooking. The alcohol must be "disposed of" in a different way! Now yeast is a budding, single-cell fungus. So fungus can serve a useful purpose. And what about sauerkraut?1 The fermentation of sauerkraut…
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