Historical Development of Fermentation

History of fermentation, how it came into existence, it's utilization by people in different periods of history, and the current scenario.

1. 1 HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF FERMENTATION

2. Introduction Humans have been fermenting food since the Neolithic age. Fermentation technology is the oldest of all biotechnological processes. Louis Pasteur in 1857  Science behind Fermentation. “Ferment” derived from Latin verb “Fervere”, meaning “ to boil ”. 2 Fig 1.1 : Louis Pasteur

3. 3 Fermentation or simply culturing occurs all because of microbes. Microbes can be found everywhere on Earth, including the soil that grows our food and also inside our stomach. Microbes form communities called cultures and colonize. T hese organisms consume the available sugar without the presence of oxygen. This process is known as anaerobic digestion . Fig 1.2 : Saccharomyces cerevisiae & Wine Fermentation

4. How Did Fermentation Start? No definite answer to this question just like human evolution. No proper record of when and where it started. Signs of induced fermentation dates back to as far as 6,000 B.C. Fermentation is as old as humanity. Some date it back to 8,000 B.C., same time as development of agriculture. Likely that it started spontaneously. It is considered that milk was the first to be fermented, unintentionally, way back in 10,000 B.C. 4 Fig 2.1 : Artistic impression of earliest alcohol fermentation in Egypt

5. There is a theory that yogurt was first produced in goat bags draped over the backs of camels in North Africa at temperatures of 40 ° C. One of the earliest record of fermentation dates back to 6,000 B.C. in The Fertile Crescent, “ The Cradle of Civilization ”. Use of fermentation for beverages has existed since the Neolithic age. Ayurveda mentions the use of wines as medicine. Fermented foods have a religious significance in Judaism and Christianity. The Baltic god Rugutis was worshiped as the agent of fermentation. 5 Fig 2.2 : The Fertile Crescent Fig 2.3 : Depiction of Jesus with wine

6. Some of the s ignature fermented food: a). Dosey from India b). Kimchi from Korea c). Sauerkraut from Germany Fermented foods are also used in Eastern cultures for medicinal purposes. Links between fermented foods and health can be traced back as far as ancient Rome and China. They remain an area of great interest for researchers in modern times. 6 Fig 2.5 : Fermenting Sauerkraut Fig 2.4 : Fermented dosey batter

7. Usage of fermentation for preserving of fish. Discovered recently in the Scandinavian region of Southern Sweden. 2,00,000 fish bones uncovered from a storage pit dating back to 7,000 B.C. – Early Mesolithic age. Pine barks and Seal fat used instead of salt. Buried in muddy soil after wrapping with wild boar’s skin. Skillful way of preservation. 7 Fig 3.2 : The remains of a large-scale storage for fermented fish Earliest Evidence of Fermentation Fig 3.1 : Wrapping of fish

8. 8 Around 8,000 B.C. – Humans produced b read and alcoholic beverage for the first time. Around 4,000 B.C. to 1,000 B.C. – Production of rice wine and usage of fermented soybean to treat skin infections by the Chinese. 4,000 B.C. – Use of yeast to make bread and wine by the Egyptians. 1,750 B.C. – Sumerians fermented barley to beer. 300 B.C. – Preservation of vegetab les using fermentation by the Chinese. 220 B.C. – Start of use of fermented tea to treat a variety of illnesses. Around 210 A.D. – Greek physician Galen believed that digestion operated in the same way as grape fermentation, in the liver. Timeline of Fermentation

9. 9 Till 17 th century – Believed that fermentation is a mystical process. 1659 – Thomas Willis wrongly attributed disease and fever with fermentation of blood. Mid 17th century – Van Helmont believed that digestion, breathing and other biological processes were carried out by a ferment. 1680 – Anton van Leeuwenhoek observed the ‘ferment’ and found them to be yeast spores. True scientific study of yeast and fermentation began after this observation. 1781 – First attempt at artificially producing yeast by Thomas Henry. Beginning of biological engineering of yeast. 1789 – First account of the chemical changes occurring during fermentation using yeast was published by Lavoisier. He gave a chemical equation and became the first person to apply the principle of conservation of mass in chemical reaction.

10. 10 1815 – Gay-Lussac revised the balance of Lavoisier’s equation. Later in the 20 th century the empirical equation was updated to C 6 H 12 O 6 ⇋ 2CO 2 + 2CH 3 CH 2 OH This equation is still know as the Gay-Lussac equation. 1840 – “Fermentation is a result of process occurring in living beings”, conclusion by Theodor Schwann. 1857 – Louis Pasteur referred to fermentation as “the result of life without air”. He found that air has always been considered the enemy of wine and can inhibit fermentation – termed as the Pasteur effect. He found that lactic acid was a by product and was the reason why wines turned sour. He also led the development of pasteurization of milk and foods prone to spoilage. Regarded France’s greatest scientist.

11. 1858 – Moritz Traube published experimental evidence finally suggesting that fermentation itself is a living process. 1907 – German zymologist Eduard Buchner showed that enzymes in yeast cells, not the yeast cells themselves cause fermentation. Won the Nobel prize. 1927 – Hans Euler-Chelpin and Arthur Harden managed to describe what happens in sugar fermentation and the action of fermentation enzymes using physical chemistry. Won the Nobel prize in 1929. 11

12. 12 1940 – Technology was developed to use fermentation to produce antibiotics. Present day – Fermentation is used to produce chemicals, medicines and acholic beverages in industrial scale. Fermentation has been on a wild ride over the course of human knowledge. Fig 4.1 : Making of Penicillin

13. 13 8,000 B.C. – The first was likely made of clay-earthenware. 7,000 B.C. – Scandinavian people used skins of Wild B oars and Seals to bring about fermentation. 1,250 - 1,000 B.C. – T he Shang and Western Zhou Dynasty of China used bronze vessels. 800 - 600 B.C. – Fermentation was brought about in Amphoras pottery. 57 B.C. - 935 A.D. – Vegetables were started to be fermented in stoneware jars , onggi to produce Kimchi . Fermentation Vessels Over The Years Fig 6.2 : Amphoras pottery Fig 6.1 : Early Neolithic age clay jars

14. 14 Fig 6.3 : Bronze vessel for fermenting wine Fig 6.4 : Korean Onggi pots

15. 15 During WWI – Chaim Weizmann developed a fermenter for producing acetone . Maintaining aseptic conditions became important. 1930s – T he first big capacity (above 20L) fermenter for the production of compressed yeast was used. This was large cylindrical tank. 1934 – Two German inventors Strauch and Schmidt patented a system in which the aeration tubes were introduced with water and steam. 1944 – Penicillin was produced using submerged culture fermentation technique by Pfizer. Fig 6.5 : Erecting Fermenters for acetone production Fig 6.6 : Pfizer owned Fermenter

16. 16 Fig 6.7 : Design of a modern day basic industrial fermenter

17. Present day – In the present scenario fermentation is knowingly carried out by every household in the world producing ready to eat foods, e.g., homemade curd. “Fermentation jars” are available in the market. But these are used domestically, catering to a single family. T here are billion-dollar businesses too that are built around this simple phenomenon. Fermentation has been on developmental track ever since it’s discovery. 17 Fig 6.8 : Fermentation kit; It’s contents inside

18. References Fermentation: A History by eatCultured The History and Health Benefits of Fermented Food by Robin Foroutan for Food & Nutrition Sauerkraut: The Quintessential Eastern European Vegetable by Barbara Rolek for The Spruce Eats The Science of Winemaking Yeasts by Paul Adams for Seven Fifty Daily What is Fermentation? by Healthy Hildegard Images from google 18

19. 19 THANK YOU