What is Fermentation & How does fermentation work?

Published on 29-Jun-2022

What is Fermentation?

Fermentation is the metabolic process of using microorganisms that can help achieve desirable food properties. It can also change food and beverages with increasing flavor, preserving foodstuffs, providing health benefits, etc. Fermentation is an anaerobic system that can help to make food more nutritious and digestible.

From the Latin verb “fervere,” which means “to boil,” Fermentation comes, but it is the process that can be occurred without heat. It is also a chemical process through which glucose molecules are broken down. At least 10,000 years old, Fermentation occurred during manufacturing wine and beer. In the 19th century, Louis Pasteur first used this fermentation term to signify that living organisms open with it.

What is fermentation?

Different Types of Fermentation:

Microbes specialize in moving particular elements into others to generate various foodstuffs and beverages. There are three different types of Fermentation. They are-

Lactic acid fermentation: Strains of yeast and bacteria can alter starches or sugars into lactic acid. There is no need to heat the process, and it’s an anaerobic chemical process. It is essential for generating cheap foods like pickles, sauerkraut, kimchi, and yogurt.
Ethyl alcohol fermentation: Pyruvate molecules in starches or sugars are broken down through yeasts and converted into alcohol and carbon dioxide molecules that propagate beer and wine.
Acetic acid fermentation: Acetic acid fermentation is used to produce any vinegar—for example, apple cider vinegar, wine vinegar, etc. Here starch or sugar from grain or fruit ferment into sour testing vinegar.

What Can Happen During Fermentation?

Fermentation can occur in the presence of favorable microorganisms such as molds, bacteria, yeasts, and the absence of oxygen.

During Fermentation, some cells ferment pyruvate to alcohol and carbon dioxide.
Cells convert NADH to NAD+, bypassing high-energy electrons back to pyruvic acid.
From NADH, hydrogen ions and electrons are used to convert pyruvate.
Then allows glycolysis to continue generating a steady supply of ATP.

How does Fermentation work?

Microbes can stay by using carbohydrates like glucose for energy and fuel. When needed for this energy for the body, organic chemicals ATP Adenosine Tri Phosphate can deliver this energy to every part of a cell. For generating ATP, our body cells and microbes use respiration, an aerobic process that requires oxygen. It begins with glycolysis, and in this process, glucose is altered into pyruvic acid, where takes place in aerobic respiration.

Fermentation is anaerobic respiration without needing enough oxygen to occur in this process. Unlike respiration, Fermentation constructs various organic molecules like lactic acid that produce ATP.

Emerged in environmental circumstances, microbes and cells can change this different mode of energy production.

Stages of Fermentation: Fermentation can have several stages depending on Fermentation. They are-

Primary Fermentation: Microbes can rapidly work with primary ingredients like vegetables, fruits. The presence of the microbes can prevent putrefying bacteria from colonizing the food instead. It can alter carbohydrates into alcohol and acids.

Secondary Fermentation: It is a long stage of the fermentation process at several days. Here increasing alcohol levels decreases the microbes that mean it starts to die off, and food source becomes rare. Different pH levels can affect the chemical reactions between microbes and the environment.

We should follow some tips for starting Fermentation.

These tips are-

At first, we should establish a starter culture because it is already rich in beneficial microbes.
For preventing harmful bacteria, it is essential to clean all equipment.
Should avoid exposure the ferment to the air that can prevent to increase the risk of spoilage.
Can submerge this process in a salt solution that is called brine.
For preventing air contamination should keep the fermenting product in a container.
Microbes work well at room temperature. Through controlling the temperature, it’s possible to manage a good fermentation process.

Advantages of Fermentation:

There are some advantages of this fermented food. Such as-

Fermentation can provide a rapid burst of ATP in muscle cells where oxygen is in limited supply.
Fermented foods are more nutritious.
It can preserve for a long time.
It can provide enzymes that are essential for digestion.
These are rich in probiotics (beneficial microorganisms).

Besides advantages, there are disadvantages like hazardous metabolites can survive in fermented foods.

Overall it can be an alternative to the traditional chemical synthesis. Mainly Fermentation is used on a large scale that is the industrial sector. Here it is used to make wine, beer, bread, cheese, vinegar, and other products.