Page 134 - The Secrets Of Vinegar

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SecretsVINAIGRE VINAIGRE
The Biochemistry of Vinegar
In 1730, Dutch chemist Hermann Boerhaave identified the difference between alcohol fermentation (the conversion of sugars into alcohol), acetic fermentation (the conversion of alcohol into vinegar), and putrid fermentation (the putrefaction of wine). German chemist and physician George Ernst Stahl also succeeded in specifying alcohol as the key to the acetic fermentation process. In 1822, Dutch botanist Christiaan Hendrik Persoon discovered acetobacter, the microorganism responsible for fermentation. Believing it to be a fungus, he named it mycoderma aceti and attributed the production of vinegar to the substance that accumulates on the surface of wine exposed to the open air. In actual fact, this substance is composed of acetic bacteria belonging to the genera acetobacter and gluconobacter. In 1863, Louis Pasteur finally identified the accurate process of and ingredients necessary for vinegar fermentation, and in 1865, his theory of the biochemical nature of vinegar production was established as scientific fact. Thanks to Pasteur’s research, the industrial production of vinegar boomed.
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