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This article discusses the fermentation process for Asian foods, with particular emphasis on fermented food products made from major primary produce such as soybeans, cereals, and meat. A selection of representative fermentations in Asian countries or subregions is provided and fermentations dominated by different types of microorganisms (bacteria, yeasts, and filamentous fungi) are described. Furthermore, fermentations are distinguished according to the inclusion of salt. The article first considers the scientific knowledge referring to food production, microbiological, and chemical composition and (bio)chemical changes taking place during the fermentation before giving an overview of fermented soybean products such as soybean sauce and soybean paste. It then examines fermented meat products and cereal products and concludes with an assessment of prospects for research and development relating to the fermentation of Asian products.

This article discusses the complex science, culture and tradition, technology, and skills involved in beer fermentation. It begins with an overview of the history of malting and brewing as well as world consumption of beer before explaining the basic steps to malting barley. Next to water, malted barley is the main ingredient used to make beer. It provides four very important qualities to the beer-making process: starch, enzymes suitable for converting that starch into a fermentable extract, flavor, and color. The article proceeds by describing barley cleaning and sorting, steeping, germination, kilning, and cleaning and blending. It also considers brewhouse operations, hops cultivation and processing, and hop chemistry as well as the steps involved in the fermentation process, such as brewing and handling yeast, haze stabilization and clarification. Finally, it analyzes packaging as the final step in the production of beer.

This article discusses the production of cognac, armagnac, and brandy. It first provides an overview of brandy as a category in the global spirits market before describing how cognac, armagnac, and brandy are produced using a wide variety of grape cultivars. The main apparatus used for the production of brandy, cognac and armagnac is the pot still, but distillation can also be carried out using a column still (continuous distillation). After the distillation process, the distillate is then placed in oak barrels to mature. The article goes on to consider brandy production in South Africa and Spain, the brandies produced in Cognac and Armagnac, and American brandy. It also examines factors influencing the composition of brandy such as cultivars, yeast strain, malo-lactic fermentation, distillation, and maturation, along with volatile compounds present in distillates and final brandy products. Finally, it analyzes future trends in the brandy industry.

This article focuses on the processing of breads. It first provides a historical overview of breadmaking, noting that the process of making bread in ancient times is not all very different from modern bread manufacturing practices, before describing the main and optional ingredients, mixing, fermentation, and proofing as well as the baking and cooling process involved in breadmaking. It then considers the shelf life of breads and how it can be affected by staling and microbiological spoilage. It also examines sourdough and sourdough bread, with emphasis on the ecology of traditional and gluten-free (GF) sourdoughs; starch hydrolysis and bread staling; the mechanism and effects of proteolysis on bread quality; exopolysaccharides as hydrocolloids replacers; sourdough as a flavor-enhancer ingredient; and application of sourdough for prolonging the shelf life of bread. Finally, it discusses the use of GF diet as therapy for people with celiac disease.

This article discusses the procedures involved in cidermaking. It first provides an overview of the history and definition of cider before considering raw materials used in making cider, including cider apples, milling and pressing, and juices added to the cider. It then describes the cider fermentation process, from yeast selection and malo-lactic fermentation to sulphite binding and determining cider color and flavor. It also examines post-fermentation operations that include racking, storage, and packaging; how producers deal with microbiological disorder of stored bulk ciders known as “cider sickness” as well as flavor taints in ciders; and the manufacture of perry. Finally, it analyzes future developments in the production of cider.

This article deals with the production of cocoa and chocolate. Cocoa beans are the raw material for chocolate and cocoa-derived products. Cocoa trees are native to equatorial climate regions, but Europe and the United States are the world’s leading chocolate producers and consumers. The fermentation of cocoa beans exerts a major influence on the sensory characteristics of chocolate. Studies undertaken in the twentieth century have yielded significant insights into the basic physiology and ecology of cocoa fermentation as well as the biochemical changes that occur during the cocoa fermentation, drying, and roasting processes leading to chocolate flavor. The article first provides an overview of the global production of cocoa and chocolate before discussing the fermentation process, taking into account the role of the substrate, microbial fermentation, drying, and cocoa processing. It also examines how chocolate flavor and quality develop during fermentation.

This article discusses the production process for coffee, the most important commodity traded in world markets after petroleum. Coffee beverages offer potential beneficial effects on human health owing to their antioxidant properties. There are different types of coffee beverages according to nuances in terms of body, aroma, acidity, and astringency. The article first provides an overview of Coffea arabica and its different varieties before considering the post-harvest processing of coffee fruits and its effect on beverage quality. It also examines the microbiota present in coffee fermentation, including several species of bacteria, yeasts, and filamentous fungi. Finally, it analyzes microorganisms present in dry fermentation and microbiota found in wet-processed, depulped, and washed coffee.

This article considers the fermentation of flavors and other components for use in foods and beverages. It first provides an overview of the types of fermentations performed for food ingredients and the microbes used, along with the different process variables that are related, before discussing the process of microbial metabolism. It then describes the media components involved in fermentation, including carbon and nitrogen sources, inorganic ions and trace elements, amino acids, vitamins, and other organic compounds. It also examines fermentation parameters, submerged fermentation, solid-state fermentation, downstream processing, and process optimization for food ingredients. Finally, it analyzes the global market for fermentation products, focusing on the production of amino acids, organic acids, enzymes, and flavor ingredients using fermentations.

This article discusses the manufacturing process for fermented fishery products primarily representing east Asia (South Korea) and southeast Asia (Tailand), with particular emphasis on the biochemical and microbiological characteristics of fermentation. It first considers high salt-fermented fish products such as jeotgal, plakem or salted fish, and kapi before turning to low salt-fermented fish products including sikhae, plara, and plasom. It then describes the fermentation process for fish sauce, focusing on the preparation method, biochemical and microbiological factors affecting the quality of fish sauce, histamine control in fish sauce made from anchovies, and parameters for estimating the quality of fish sauce. It also reviews experimental studies on fish sauce with two nontraditional species, Pacific whiting and capelin.

This article discusses the manufacture and microbial ecology of fermented meats as well as the factors affecting their safety and sensory quality. Fermented meats are produced by the action of microorganisms and/or tissue enzymes such as proteases. They can be classified into fermented sausages and raw dry hams. The article first provides an overview of the principles underlying the manufacture of fermented sausages, taking into consideration the different types of fermented sausages, microorganisms involved in sausage fermentation, biological hazards that pose a threat to the safety of fermented sausages, and sensory properties of fermented sausages. It then describes the basic manufacturing process for raw salted/cured hams and concludes with an assessment of future developments in the manufacture of fermented meats.

This article focuses on the production of liqueur. It first considers the definition of liqueurs, focusing on three parameters—alcoholic strength, sweetness, and flavoring—that characterize it before providing a brief historical overview of liqueurs. It then explains the principles of liqueur making, taking into account the raw materials used such as alcohol base, sweeteners, flavorants, herbs, spices, beans, fruits and nuts, flowers, and water, and the liqueur-making process. It also describes some of the world’s best-known liqueurs and the most famous liqueur styles, noting that few types of liqueur are universal, made all over the world in a similar manner. Some examples are anisettes and other anise-based liqueurs, coffee liqueurs, and herb liqueurs. The article concludes with a commentary on tasting liqueurs.

This article examines the types of microorganisms used to produce microbial biomass protein (MBP), along with their physiology, growth parameters, nutritional requirements, and physicochemical parameters. There are four types of microorganisms used for biomass production: bacteria, yeast, fungi, and algae. The choice of the microorganism depends on the nutritional value of its biomass (energy, protein content, and amino acid balance), growth requirements, and toxicology. Desirable traits in such microorganisms to produce MBP are high specific growth rate and biomass yield, a wide range of temperatures for growth, tolerance to differences in pH, and few nutritional and growth factor requirements. The article first provides an overview of bacteria, yeast, fungi, and algae as used in the production of MBP before discussing the use of grass and woods for MBP production. It also describes the MBP process and concludes by highlighting new innovations and future challenges to MBP production.

This article focuses on the fermentation of three dairy products: yogurt, kefir, and kumys. Yogurt is made from a heat-treated yogurt mix with the help of a starter culture consisting of Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus. Yogurt is prepared from milk from cow, buffalo, sheep, and goat, but cow’s milk is predominantly used for commercial yogurt manufacture. The article describes the basis of yogurt manufacturing that includes standardization of the yogurt mix, homogenization, heat treatment, cooling to incubation temperature, inoculation with a bacterial culture, incubation, cooling, and packaging. It also discusses the preparation of milk and milk bases, sweetening agents used in yogurt, and different types of yogurt. Finally, it considers the production and consumption of kefir and kumys.

This article discusses the production of rum. It begins with an overview of the nature of rum, focusing on its characteristics, quality criteria, and market styles, before discussing the science underpinning rum, its production and composition. A variety of natural and technical factors affect the taste and specific qualities of rum, including raw materials, conditions of fermentation used to convert sugars to ethanol while permitting the expression of some microbial metabolisms, method of distillation, duration and container used for maturation of distillates, quality of water used to reduce the distillate to commercial alcoholic strength, and flavors and coloring agents. The article also describes rum fermentation, distillation, and post-distillation processing and concludes with an assessment of likely future trends in rum making.

This article focuses on the process of tea fermentation. Tea beverages are processed from the young tender shoots of Camellia sinensis L. O. Kuntze. Because of its subtle flavors and health benefits, tea has become the world’s most popular beverage after water. Commercially, there are three varieties of Camellia sinensis, each of which is extensively exploited in the production of tea beverages: the China type, the Assam type, and the hybrid. The article first provides an overview of the origins and distribution of tea before discussing the raw materials used in the production of tea beverages. It then considers various types of tea and methods of tea processing, biochemical composition of green tea leaves, the chemistry of tea processing, the chemical basis of tea quality, and how processing technology affects tea quality. It concludes with an assessment of future trends in world tea production.

This article focuses on vegetable fermentations. It begins with a number of propositions; for example, two of the most commercially important raw materials, olives and cucumbers (dill pickle) as well as some of the minor ones (such as tomatoes), are fruits rather than vegetables; cassava (Manihot esculenta) is a vegetable, indeed a tuber, and its treatment to convert an initially toxic into a relatively safe foodstuff is essentially a lactic fermentation. The article proceeds by discussing factors that affect microbial growth in food fermentations, including salt, water activity, essential oils, and onions and garlic. It also describes brassica-based products such as sauerkraut, kimchi, and other leaf-based products as well as fermented vegetables, Indian pickles, olives, cucumbers and dill pickle, cassava (manioc), and fermented vegetable juices. Finally, it considers recent developments relating to brassica fermentations, vegetable-based fermentations, olives, cucumbers, cassava, fermented vegetable juices, and miscellaneous matters.

This article focuses on vinegar fermentation. The term vinegar refers to numerous products that include wine, malt, and cider vinegar, along with alcohol-derived vinegars, balsamic and aromatic vinegars, and those of tropical origin derived from fruit. Vinegar is the product of acetic fermentation of weakly alcoholic liquids and results from the oxidative action of aerobic micro-organisms of the genus Acetobacter. The article first provides an overview of vinegar history before discussing vinegar production worldwide. It then considers the various uses and health benefits of vinegar, vinegar processing technology, and vinegar characterization. It also examines the raw materials used in making vinegar such as wine vinegar, sherry vinegar, traditional balsamic vinegar, apple vinegar, malt vinegar, rice vinegar, vinegars from other fruits, vinegars from other cereals, sugarcane vinegar, vinegar from other plant material, honey vinegar, whey vinegar, and spirit vinegar. The article concludes with an analysis of future trends in vinegar production.

This article discusses the stages involved in the production of whiskey/whisky, the world’s leading category of distilled beverages. It first provides an overview of differences that exist in whisky production and how they affect the quality of the final product before describing whisky styles and markets as well as the sensory characteristics of whisky, in terms of both composition and flavor. The first stage in whisky production is the preparation of a cereal mash. The selection of cereal (barley, wheat, maize (corn), and rye) and water will influence the composition of the mash and ultimately the quality of the final whisky. The next stage is the fermentation of the cereal mash, followed by distillation, maturation, and post maturation treatment and bottling. The article concludes with an assessment of possible future trends relating to whisky production and consumption.

This article discusses wine as the product of complete or partial fermentation of grapes. It first provides an overview of the wine regions around the world, often designated as Old World and New World, before describing the classification of wine into styles according to chemical composition, noting that most wine styles are derived from specific grape varieties, as well as the sensory evaluation of wine. It then considers the grapevine and its varieties, focusing on the annual growth cycle of the grapevine, the composition of grapes at harvest, the influence of climate on commercial viticulture, and vineyard operations and management. It also examines the winemaking procedures, primary fermentation, the transformation of grape constituents to wine, wine stabilization and fining, wine maturation, aging, and blending, wine clarification operations, and packaging. Finally, it analyzes future trends in viticultural and winemaking practices.