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Fermentation Science

The Families Are Maps, Not Boxes

Six ways of understanding fermentation — and why the boundaries between them matter less than the connections.

By Marcia George1 min read

Demo content — in development. This placeholder article is adapted from passages in Volume I to demonstrate the Journal layout. It is not a published article.

Classification helps make sense of an enormous variety of fermented foods. Volume I groups them into six families: lactic acid, mould, alkaline, yeast and alcoholic, acetic acid, and mixed or boundary fermentations.

  • Lactic acid fermentation
  • Mould fermentation
  • Alkaline fermentation
  • Yeast and alcoholic fermentation
  • Acetic acid fermentation
  • Mixed and boundary fermentations

In sequence and in partnership

Real foods rarely stay inside one category. Fermentations happen in sequence — alcohol becomes the starting point for vinegar — and in partnership, with yeasts and bacteria working together. The same food can also change over time.

That is why the families are best read as a biological map of the fermented world, rather than a set of boxes.

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