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Articles on Fermentation

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In what form do you eat your annual share of the approximately 5 million tons of cocoa produced worldwide? Tracey Kusiewicz/Foodie Photography/Moment via Getty Images

Chocolate chemistry – a food scientist explains how the beloved treat gets its flavor, texture and tricky reputation as an ingredient

There’s a lot of interesting science behind the fermenting, roasting, grinding and melting that turns chocolate into the bars, bonbons and baked goods you know and love.
Dairy cows in the Fraser Valley, B.C. (Evan Bowness)

Milk without the cow: Cellular agriculture could be the future of farming, but dairy farmers need help

Technological changes on the horizon will likely disrupt the dairy industry as we know it — plans to mitigate the risks this transition poses to farmer livelihoods and animal welfare should start now.
An invisible organism with worldwide influence. KATERYNA KON/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY via Getty Images

What every new baker should know about the yeast all around us

Yeast is a single-celled organism that’s everywhere around us. Understanding how yeast works can help you make better bread and appreciate this old friend of humanity.
A sample of the Eucalyptus giunnii plant, sometimes called a cider gum for its ability to produce an alcoholic drink without human intervention. Shutterstock/Modest Things

Alcohol brewed from trees and other fermented drinks in Australia’s Indigenous history

Sap from one tree collected in hollows in the bark, and natural yeast fermented the liquid to an alcoholic drink used by Aboriginal people. Europeans called the tree a cider gum because of the taste.
An agave plant cutter, or ‘jimador,’ cuts the tips off from agave branches at a Jose Cuervo blue agave field. AP Photo/Guillermo Arias

3 questions about tequila, answered

Is a shot of tequila actually good for you? What’s the deal with the worm? Who was margarita, anyway? A food historian explores some little-known aspects of the popular Mexican spirit.
Betty Aneyumel from the Karamoja tribe rakes fermented millet to prepare a local alcoholic drink in Moroto, eastern Uganda. Reuters/Euan Denholm

What ancient African fermentation techniques reveal about probiotics

There’s more to fermented foods than a good meal. Scientists are learning just how such foods encourage the growth of probiotics and how this keeps people healthy.

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