This is the first book to focus on the scientific principles underlying the fermentation processes of cocoa and coffee beans and their impact on product quality and safety. The text compiles the knowledge from the different disciplines involved in fermentation, including botany, chemistry, microbiology, biochemistry, food science, and sensory science. The chapters discuss the botanics of the beans; fermentation methods; the microbiology of fermentation; the biochemistry and physiology of fermentation; the impacts of fermentation on bean flavor, quality, and safety; chocolate and coffee derived from the beans; and the processing of waste materials.

For centuries, people around the world have used fermentation to preserve and enhance the flavor of a wide variety of foods. Today, complex interactions of microbiota in the digestive tract are found to influence proper digestion, metabolism, and disease resistance. With greater emphasis on natural products and the role of food in health and wellbe

In developing countries, traditional fermentation serves many purposes. It can improve the taste of an otherwise bland food, enhance the digestibility of a food that is difficult to assimilate, preserve food from degradation by noxious organisms, and increase nutritional value through the synthesis of essential amino acids and vitamins. Although "fermented food" has a vaguely distasteful ring, bread, wine, cheese, and yogurt are all familiar fermented foods. Less familiar are gari, ogi, idli, ugba, and other relatively unstudied but important foods in some African and Asian countries. This book reports on current research to improve the safety and nutrition of these foods through an elucidation of the microorganisms and mechanisms involved in their production. Also included are recommendations for needed research.

Did you know? It's estimated that fermentation practices have been around since as early as 6000 BC, when wine was first being made in Caucasus and Mesopotamia. Today, there are roughly 5000 varieties of fermented foods and beverages prepared and consumed worldwide, which accounts for between five and forty percent of daily meals. Fermented Foods a