Fermentation is a term deviced from the latin verb fevere ,meaning to boil. This phenomenon as

later associated with the spontancous conversion of substrates to alcoholic beverages in which

the anaerobic catabolism of sugar by yeasts produced carbon dioxide bubbles. The classical

definition of fermentation denotes the anaerobic breakdown of an organic substrate by an

enzyme system in which the final hydrogen acceptor is an organic compound. In the broad sense,

fermentation is defined as a metabolic procces in which chemical changes are brought about in

a organic substrate through the activities of enzymes secreted by microorganisms ( underkofler

and hickey 1954). Banwart 1979 however, proposed the term “food conversion” instead of

fermentation so as to include the aerobic oxidation of alcohol to accetic acid in vinegar

prodtion . this book adopted pederson’s 1971 simple definition of fermentation ad a method of

preparing foods to develop in them certain desirable characteristics such as flavor , aroma,

texture, and to keep quality through microbial activities