Lavoisier was also interested in analyzing the mechanism by which sugarcane is transformed into alcohol and carbon dioxide during fermentation. Using quantitative studies, he learned that sugars are composed of a mixture of hydrogen, charcoal (carbon), and oxygen. In his quest, he decided to use sugars for his experiments, and he gained new knowledge about their structures and chemical reactions. In 1789, the French chemist Antoine Lavoisier was working on basic theoretical questions about the transformations of substances.
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, chemists worked hard to decipher the nature of alcoholic fermentation through analytical chemistry and chemical nomenclature. Later, in 1755, yeast were defined in the Dictionary of the English Language by Samuel Johnson as "the ferment put into drink to make it work and into bread to lighten and swell it." At the time, nobody believed that yeast were alive they were seen as just organic chemical agents required for fermentation. Leeuwenhoek discovered that yeast consist of globules floating in a fluid, but he thought they were merely the starchy particles of the grain from which the wort (liquid obtained from the brewing of whiskey and beer) was made (Huxley 1894). In his spare time Leeuwenhoek used his lenses to observe and record detailed drawings of everything he could, including very tiny objects, like protozoa, bacteria, and yeast. In the seventeenth century, a Dutch tradesman named Antoni van Leeuwenhoek developed high-quality lenses and was able to observe yeast for the first time. It took several hundred years before quality lenses and microscopes revolutionized science and allowed researchers to observe these microorganisms. At the time, no one knew that the alcohol produced during fermentation was produced because of one of these microorganisms - a tiny, one-celled eukaryotic fungus that is invisible to the naked eye: yeast. In so doing, they transferred microorganisms from their feet into the mixture. Wine producers traditionally used their feet to soften and grind the grapes before leaving the mixture to stand in buckets. Through empirical observation, people learned that temperature and air exposure are key to the fermentation process. If the mixture did not stand long enough, the product contained no alcohol but if left for too long, the mixture rotted and was undrinkable.
Producing fermented beverages was tricky.
The process was named fermentation, from the Latin word fervere, which means "to boil." The name came from the observation that mixtures of crushed grapes kept in large vessels produced bubbles, as though they were boiling. 2003).Īt the time, people knew that leaving fruits and grains in covered containers for a long time produced wine and beer, but no one fully understood why the recipe worked. In South America, people produced chicha from grains or fruits, mainly maize while in North America, people made octli (now known as "pulque") from agave, a type of cactus (Godoy et al. In Egypt, Babylon, Rome, and China, people produced wine from grapes and beer from malted barley. Mead, or honey wine, was produced in Asia during the Vedic period (around 1700–1100 BC), and the Greeks, Celts, Saxons, and Vikings also produced this beverage. Over the course of human history, and using a system of trial, error, and careful observation, different cultures began producing fermented beverages.
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