Friendly Fermentation

Abstract

Fermentation processes yield products useful to all of us in everyday life. The bread we eat, medicinal products we take and many beverages that we drink are all results of fermentation through the application of friendly microorganisms or microbes. Fermentation dates back to times immemorial. It predates our knowl-edge of microbes. Though fermentation has been practised for ages, rapid scientific and technological advancements have come about only in the last century. Fermentation is a multidisciplinary technology wherein knowledge of bi-ology, chemistry, and physics, is involved in one way or the other. Needless to say that advancements in these areas have brought fermentation to the forefront. The know-how is now so advanced that it is possible to manipulate the transfer of genes to evolve newer mi-crobes that produce the desired product. The purpose of writing this book is to share some basic knowledge about fermentation processes and products with young students. We owe a lot to microbes for our good living. If the excitement of progress in this area would inspire some of the readers to takeup re-search as a career, this book would have served its purpose.