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 pedersons 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