Please explain to me the fermentation process.
In: 3
1) get some food (juice, milk, vegetables, meat, dough, etc)
2) If needed, modify the food to encourage only the microorganisms that you want (adding salt or acid or enzymes or drying or other)
3) If needed, heat the food to kill all existing microorganisms to start with a blank slate
4) add microorganisms such as yeast, bacteria, or fungus (attract them from the environment or add an isolated culture that you know is already correct)
5) Control temperature to keep microorganisms operating the way you wanted (could be as simple as storing in a cool, dark place up to a computer-controlled climate system)
6) wait for the process to complete
7) enjoy the product or put it into storage
Examples:
Milk, heated then cooled. Add some live culture yogurt. keep at room temp covered. Eventually you’ve got yogurt.
boiled and strained barley juice + hops. Cool and add yeast. Place in cool, dark place for several days. You’ve got flat beer. Place in bottles (with some sugar) or place in keg with CO2 tank to carbonate.
cooked shredded cabbage + salty water (at the right %salt) = sauerkraut
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