How fermentation enables the pickling of food and the production of beer

How fermentation works

Alcoholic fermentation is the process where yeast transforms grape sugars into ethanol, creating wine. Microscopic fungi (commonly known as yeast) metabolize sugars, producing alcohol and carbon dioxide. Fermentation's speed and temperature impact wine's flavor and style: cooler temps suit fruity whites, while warmer ones enhance red's tannins. Fermentation stops when sugars are depleted or by temperature extremes, and sometimes yeast removal yields sweeter wines. Get a quick breakdown of the process with this easy explainer.

Microbes are essential to creating the many varieties of cheese, influencing texture and taste

Microbes break down proteins and fats and produce compounds with distinct tastes. These microbes can include bacteria (like the one used to give Swiss its trademark holes), molds (like the ones that give blue cheese its distinctive veining), and countless other tiny organisms.

Why pickles became a thing

Pickles began in Mesopotamia around 2400 BCE as a way to preserve vegetables amid heat (and spoilage). They spread through Egypt, Greece, and Rome, where Julius Caesar reportedly fed pickles to his soldiers, and brining was treated as a culinary art. The technique is broadly useful, as salt and water can extend the shelf life and deepen flavor for almost anything.

Bacteria have been genetically engineered to bioluminesce when wine has spoiled

Developed by researchers at Hebrew University, the method involves the firefly enzyme luciferase, which emits light from within bacteria expressing when they are in the presence of acetic acid vapors produced by wine. The process provides affordable, on-site, real-time monitoring of fermentation quality.

How beer became a part of medieval culture

This history of beer's evolution during the Middle Ages unpacks how the brewing process, which killed harmful bacteria, made beer a safe alternative to water. That fact, along with the Catholic church condoning (and, in some cases, producing) the beverage, helped it evolve into a major commodity.

Protein content and multiple fermentations create beer foam stability

Single-fermentation beers rely on protein viscosity for foam, with lipid transfer proteins transforming into stabilizing structures during fermentation. Scientists believe foam research may result in safer lubricants for electric vehicles.

The history of molecular gastronomy, from thickening yolks with alcohol to making art with food

Before understanding why they worked, humans used scientific principles, including designing solutions and analyzing outcomes, to develop preservation methods like curing meat and fermenting vegetables. By the 20th century, the application of industrialized food preparation to smaller kitchens set the stage for the subdiscipline of food science.

The importance of volatile aroma compounds in the flavor quality of food

Processes such as air movement and heating cause food to lose aroma molecules, which studies have shown play a major role in our sense of taste. While losing these molecules to the environment leaves fewer to be processed during consumption to intensify flavor, it can also produce previously nonexistent aroma compounds or release previously trapped ones, altering or enhancing the food's flavor.

The food processing techniques developed for World War II, later repurposed for consumers

Research projects funded or sponsored by the military led to the development of active dry yeast to make bread easier to bake and an improved version of dehydrated cheese, which would be used in powdered cheese snacks. Freeze-drying, which had been used to ease the transport of blood plasma to battlefields, where it would be reconstituted with water, was later used on fruit for cereals.

Budweiser stores yeast derived from the original 1800s strain in a secret bunker, which only the Head of Yeast Management can access—not even the CEO

Learn how environmental conditions are optimized to increase bioremediation efficacy

Through biostimulation, Indigenous microbes are provided with moisture, nutrients, or oxygen to prevent their death and ensure optimal progression of their biochemical reactions. Bioaugmentation can introduce new microbial cultures to target specific compounds not natively found in the environment, while landfarming can spread or aerate contaminated soil to improve access to contaminants.

Honeybees vomit nectar into one another's mouths to transform it into honey

Digestive enzymes break down long chains of complex sugars into simple monosaccharides, while the fanning of their wings helps honeybees evaporate water away. This process increases the acidity of the resulting honey, increasing its shelf life when sealed in beeswax.

Explaining concentrate and how concentrate-derived juice differs from its source

Developed to reduce the volume of goods—thus lowering storage and shipping costs—the concentration process uses pressure and heat to remove water, pulp, and skin from fruits. Concentrates provide significant flavor, sugar, and calories to foods in small quantities, but do not retain most of the fiber, vitamins, and other nutrients from the source fruit.

How bitter taste receptors help guard against infection

Receptors for "bitter" tastes evolved to detect potentially harmful plant chemicals, such as nicotine. The receptors also trigger bacteria-fighting responses, including waving hairlike projections to bat away bacteria, ordering the release of bacteria-killing nitric oxide, and calling for antimicrobial protein reinforcements.

How the methods of catching fish for food affects their taste

Commercially caught fish are often killed through suffocation, allowing the causing the fish extreme stress and flooding their bodies with stress hormones and lactic acid. These chemicals cause the fish's flesh to become bitter where it was once rich and quickens the rotting process.

What's the difference between an ale and a lager?

The major distinction is that ales are typically fruitier, while lagers are cleaner and crisper. This video breaks down several more of the nuanced differences between the two styles.

The five most common chemicals found in modern food

Most modern processed foods rely on a number of preservatives to stay fresh from production to our plates. The most common include citric acid (preservative and flavor), sodium benzoate (preservative), xanthan gum (thickening and stabilizing), carrageenan (thickening), and red dyes 3 and 4 (for color).

How artificial photosynthesis can help make plastics and fuels using sunlight

These systems link a molecular light absorber to a catalyst that can synthesize fuels—such as ethanol—and ethylene, a precursor to plastics, in a carbon-neutral manner. Because these byproducts have greater energy concentrations than the carbohydrates produced by photosynthetic organisms, research is ongoing to engineer the necessary catalysts.

Landfills capture methane gas and convert it into usable energy

As organic waste breaks down underground, it produces landfill gas that is roughly 50% methane. That gas can be captured and used to generate electricity or provide heat for nearby homes and businesses.

Explore the chemistry of undesired body odors

This graphic highlights some of the main compounds in different body odors, including halitosis (bad breath), flatulence, and foot odor.

Fungi make people sick when they invade and survive in otherwise healthy human tissue

We breathe in airborne spores frequently, but they often don't make us sick. This video details how certain concerning fungal changes can occur and discusses the role of mycologists—scientists who study fungi—in helping to improve human health.

Explore the water footprint of producing various proteins, fruits, and vegetables

This interactive gallery highlights the various types of water behind the production of biofuels, foods, and materials such as cotton. Diets high in bovine meat, whose production requires 15,415 liters of water per kilogram (1,847 gallons per pound), are among the most water-intensive, whereas every kilogram of vegetables uses 322 liters of water (39 gal/lb) to produce.

Unlike fruits, the category of 'vegetables' is a culinary term, not a scientific one

Within botany, fruits are defined as the ripened ovaries of flowering plants, and include apples, grapes, tomatoes, avocados, green beans, peppers, and almonds. In the kitchen, "vegetables" is an umbrella term that encompasses many fruits and other parts of plants, such as leaves (lettuce, kale) and roots (carrots, beets).

How tea gets made

Tea is one of the most consumed beverages in the world, and this video walks us through the process of supplying it from farms to our mugs. Workers handpick leaves, ferment them, and dry them as part of this involved operation. Follow along for a scientific understanding of the many steps it takes to produce tea and appreciate the detail and effort to create its flavor, aroma, and color.

LSD was derived from natural compounds produced by the ergot fungus

Ergot is a fungus that slowly infects and replaces individual grains on grasses, including rye and wheat. Ingesting ergot can cause ergotism, a form of poisoning with symptoms—including headaches, hallucinations, gangrene, and convulsions—varying by season and geography. This grain was used for medicinal purposes as early as the 1500s.

Bath bombs can produce endothermic reactions that cool water

In bath bombs containing citric acid and sodium bicarbonate, water facilitates the reaction between the bicarbonate and acid, providing energy as the salt dissolves. The loss of energy in the water reduces the average speed of the water molecules, reducing the temperature of the bath.

Jimmy Carter signed a 1978 bill that legalized home brewing, a move credited with kick-starting the craft beer industry.

The use of fungi to detoxify land and water—a process known as mycoremediation—has been used to clean up natural resources affected by the 2025 California wildfires.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a group of young men ate standard American food—replete with food additives like borax and formaldehyde—as part of government research to better understand food safety.

Volcanic activity may have triggered the Black Death by spewing gases that led to crop failures in Europe, thus forcing the import of grain ships with plague-infested fleas.

Against his wishes, Albert Einstein's brain was removed before his cremation, and the pathologist responsible stored it for decades in mason jars within a beer cooler.

The Great Salt Lake's distinct dual coloration results from high-salinity organisms that only live in the northern portion and produce a purple protein.

The history of many kitchen appliances involves unexpected discoveries and applications, including wartime radar turned hamster defroster and replacing an 'ice king' with heat-stealing boxes.

See how fireworks are made and learn how metals like magnesium and copper are responsible for different colors.

A pickleball's loud 'pop' sound can reach 120 decibels, which is equivalent to a hammer hitting a nail

Scientists can determine Earth's past climate conditions by analyzing air trapped in microscopic bubbles within ice cores—columns of compressed snow layers that build up over hundreds of thousands of years.

Coral reefs get their colors from zooxanthellae—microorganisms that line corals' digestive tracts and provide them with sugars in exchange for a home within this protective tissue.

How fusion—which releases energy when two lighter atoms combine to form a heavier atom—differs from fission

Pure water does not conduct electricity because this flow of energy requires the movement of charged particles, and water is a neutral molecule.

Visualize how CRISPR-Cas9—a type of immune system used by single-celled organisms to attack invasive viruses—targets and makes precise changes to a gene's DNA.

An initial public offering or 'IPO' is the process of a private company becoming public by putting shares of the company on the stock market for purchase.

Hear 50 years of iconic hip-hop samples, the genre's foundational looped tracks

Gerrymandering works through two techniques: cracking opposing voters across districts to dilute their power, and packing them into a few to waste their votes in lopsided majorities.

Alzheimer's can lead to brain shrinkage, with an average of around 2% of volume reduction per year

Some Pokémon have been named after real and fictional organisms, while some real-world species have been named after Pokémon, such as Chilicola charizard and Binburrum zapdos.

The word 'jazz' evolved from 'jasm,' 19th-century American slang for 'energy'

Bone marrow (soft tissue found inside certain bones) generates roughly 500 billion new blood cells each day

How Amazon operates a 'flywheel' business model, a self-reinforcing cycle that drives continuous growth

SpongeBob exemplifies Aristotle's philosophy for living well because he understands that happiness doesn't come from external factors like money, recognition, or power.

Salvador Dalí believed he was his own dead brother, who had died nine months before he was born