Scribd
Upload
7 views

Assignment 3- Food Microbiology (1)

The document discusses the fermentation processes of sauerkraut and soy sauce, highlighting the role of beneficial bacteria in their production. Sauerkraut is primarily fermented using lactic acid bacteria, while soy sauce involves multiple fermentation steps with molds and lactic acid bacteria. The author expresses a willingness to continue consuming these fermented foods despite learning about their microbial origins.

Uploaded by

cbucky16
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
7 views

Assignment 3- Food Microbiology (1)

The document discusses the fermentation processes of sauerkraut and soy sauce, highlighting the role of beneficial bacteria in their production. Sauerkraut is primarily fermented using lactic acid bacteria, while soy sauce involves multiple fermentation steps with molds and lactic acid bacteria. The author expresses a willingness to continue consuming these fermented foods despite learning about their microbial origins.

Uploaded by

cbucky16
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

Bacteria turning into food

During topic 6 we have been learning about how some bacteria is good for us and is used in
preparation of some of the foods that we eat. The two different foods that I chose that
depend on microorganisms to be made are sauerkraut and soy sauce. Both of these items
are created through the process of fermentation, which uses different bacteria.

First, let's take a look at how sauerkraut is made. Sauerkraut is one of the most well-known
fermented foods, made mainly from cabbage. Sauerkraut depends on lactic acid bacteria
during the fermentation process. During the beginning stages of fermentation temperature
ensures that lactic acid is the only microorganism present in the final stage of the
fermentation process. Along with temperature differences, salt is also added to affect the
growth of microorganisms. Lactic acid bacteria are crucial for the fermentation of
sauerkraut. Lactic acid bacteria produce organic acids, bacteriocins, vitamins, and flavor
compounds which help expand the shelf life, and improves the flavor and nutritional
content of sauerkraut. During the first process of cabbage fermentation there are multiple
microorganisms present including yeast and mold. During the first 2 to 3 days less acid-
tolerant lactic acid bacteria dominate but as the process progresses more acid-tolerant
lactic acid bacteria dominates. The fermentation process takes two weeks long.

Now let’s look at soy sauce. Soy sauce is more complicated than sauerkraut, because it
has more steps to the fermentation process and is also a longer process. The addition of
bacteria doesn’t start until the second step. The mixture is introduced to molds like
Aspergillus oryze to start fermentation. This results in a mash called Koji. For the third step
koji is spread out on wooden trays and ferments for 2 to 3 days. During step four along with
the addition of salt and water, a starter made with lactic acid bacteria and yeast is added
to the koji resulting in a new mash called Moromi. Most breweries will create their own
starter cultures of lactic acid bacteria and yeast to give their own soy sauces a more
unique and savoring flavor. The Moromi is the fermented for months to years which gets
extracted into soy sauce
After researching about sauerkraut and soy sauce I would still eat them. I knew that a lot of
different foods were made with bacteria by the fermentation process. Although, I did not
know that soy sauce was made through fermentation, which really surprised me. I also did
not know that sauerkraut was made with microorganisms, but it makes sense to me that it
was. Sauerkraut looks and kind of smells like it would be made with different
microorganisms, except I would still continue to eat it. As long as I do not see the process
of the food being made and it having different types of microorganisms in it, it does not
change my opinion on eating it.

References:

Kwon, D.Y. (2014) Sauerkraut, Sauerkraut - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics. Available


at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/food-science/sauerkraut (Accessed: 17
February 2025).

Oon, S. (2024) How is soy sauce made?, FoodUnfolded. Available at:


https://www.foodunfolded.com/article/soy-sauce-how-its-made (Accessed: 18
February 2025).

Zabat, M.A. et al. (2018) Microbial community analysis of sauerkraut fermentation reveals a
stable and rapidly established community, Foods (Basel, Switzerland). Available at:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5977097/ (Accessed: 17 February 2025).

You might also like