question: What's the difference between fermentation and rot?
comment: Generally, fermenting stuff produces something that tastes good and is safe, rotting produces something that tastes bad and might be unsafe. At least, from a food consumers perspective.
passages: Section::::Cecum.
   Section::::Modes of operation.:Continuous.
   The term fermentation sometimes refers specifically to the chemical conversion of sugars into ethanol, producing alcoholic drinks such as wine, beer, and cider. However, similar processes take place in the leavening of bread (CO produced by yeast activity), and in the preservation of sour foods with the production of lactic acid, such as in sauerkraut and yogurt.
  
  Other widely consumed fermented foods include vinegar, olives, and cheese. More localised foods prepared by fermentation may also be based on beans, grain, vegetables, fruit, honey, dairy products, fish.
  
  Section::::History and prehistory.
   In most industrial fermentations, the organisms or eukaroyotic cells are submerged in a liquid medium; in others, such as the fermentation of cocoa beans, coffee cherries, and miso, fermentation takes place on the moist surface of the medium.
   The word "ferment" is derived from the Latin verb "fervere", which means to boil. It is thought to have been first used in the late 14th century in alchemy, but only in a broad sense. It was not used in the modern scientific sense until around 1600.
  
  Section::::See also.
  
  BULLET::::- List of fermented foods
  
  BULLET::::- Acetone-butanol-ethanol fermentation
  
  BULLET::::- Dark fermentation
  
  BULLET::::- Fermentation in food processing
  
  BULLET::::- Fermentation lock
  
  BULLET::::- Gut fermentation syndrome
  
  BULLET::::- Industrial fermentation
  
  BULLET::::- Non-fermenter
  
  BULLET::::- Photofermentation
  
  BULLET::::- Aerobic fermentation
  
  Section::::External links.
  
  BULLET::::- Works of Louis Pasteur Pasteur Brewing.
  
  BULLET::::- The chemical logic behind fermentation and respiration
   Fermentation has been used by humans consciously since around 5000 BCE where there were jars recovered in the Iran Zagros Mountains area in which contained remnants of a microbes similar those present in the process of making grapes into wine.
  
  Section::::What the Theory is.
   Food fermentation serves five main purposes: to enrich the diet through development of a diversity of flavors, aromas, and textures in food substrates; to preserve substantial amounts of food through lactic acid, alcohol, acetic acid, and alkaline fermentations; to enrich food substrates with protein, essential amino acids, and vitamins; to eliminate antinutrients; and to reduce cooking time and the associated use of fuel.
  
  Section::::Fermented foods by region.
  
  BULLET::::- Worldwide: alcohol (beer, wine), vinegar, olives, yogurt, bread, cheese
  
  BULLET::::- Asia
   Section::::Production of extracellular metabolites.:Secondary metabolites.
   The French chemist Louis Pasteur founded zymology, when in 1856 he connected yeast to fermentation.
  
  When studying the fermentation of sugar to alcohol by yeast, Pasteur concluded that the fermentation was catalyzed by a vital force, called "ferments", within the yeast cells. The "ferments" were thought to function only within living organisms. "Alcoholic fermentation is an act correlated with the life and organization of the yeast cells, not with the death or putrefaction of the cells", he wrote.
   Fermentation is the main source of ethanol in the production of ethanol fuel. Common crops such as sugar cane, potato, cassava and corn are fermented by yeast to produce ethanol which is further processed to become fuel.
  
  Section::::Transformation of substrate.:Sewage treatment.
   Section::::Aerobic fermentation in non-yeast species.
  
  Section::::Aerobic fermentation in non-yeast species.:Plants.
   Section::::Fermentation.
   Food fermentation is the conversion of sugars and other carbohydrates into alcohol or preservative organic acids and carbon dioxide. All three products have found human uses. The production of alcohol is made use of when fruit juices are converted to wine, when grains are made into beer, and when foods rich in starch, such as potatoes, are fermented and then distilled to make spirits such as gin and vodka. The production of carbon dioxide is used to leaven bread. The production of organic acids is exploited to preserve and flavor vegetables and dairy products.
   Section::::Genomic basis of the crabtree effect.:CNV in fermentation genes.
   Historical records from ancient Egypt and China describe the processes of brewing and baking from 10,000 to 8,000 years ago, and the production of fermented beverages and foods seems to have paralleled the beginning of agriculture. In the 1850s, Louis Pasteur demonstrated that yeasts are responsible for the fermentation of grape juice to wine.
   Fermentation in food processing
  
  Fermentation in food processing is the process of converting carbohydrates to alcohol or organic acids using microorganisms—yeasts or bacteria—under anaerobic conditions. Fermentation usually implies that the action of microorganisms is desired. The science of fermentation is known as zymology or zymurgy.
   Ancient fermented food processes, such as making bread, wine, cheese, curds, idli, dosa, etc., can be dated to more than seven thousand years ago. They were developed long before man had any knowledge of the existence of the microorganisms involved. Some foods such as Marmite are the byproduct of the fermentation process, in this case in the production of beer.
  
  Section::::Transformation of substrate.:Ethanol fuel.
   Section::::Domestication and aerobic fermentation.
   Enteric fermentation occurs when methane (CH) is produced in the rumen as microbial fermentation takes place. Over 200 species of microorganisms are present in the rumen, although only about 10% of these play an important role in digestion. Most of the CH byproduct is belched by the animal, however, a small percentage of CH is also produced in the large intestine and passed out as flatulence.
   Fermentation (disambiguation)
  
  Fermentation is a metabolic process whereby electrons released from nutrients are ultimately transferred to molecules obtained from the breakdown of those same nutrients.
  
  Fermentation may also refer to:
  
  BULLET::::- Ethanol fermentation, the production of ethanol for use in food, alcoholic beverage, fuel and industry
  
  BULLET::::- Fermentation in food processing, the process of converting sugar to carbon dioxide and alcohol with yeast
  
  BULLET::::- Fermentation in winemaking, the process of fermentation used in wine-making
  
  BULLET::::- Lactic acid fermentation, the biological process by which sugars such as glucose, fructose, and sucrose, are converted into cellular energy and the metabolic byproduct lactate
   In microorganisms, fermentation is the primary means of producing ATP by the degradation of organic nutrients anaerobically. Humans have used fermentation to produce foodstuffs and beverages since the Neolithic age. For example, fermentation is used for preservation in a process that produces lactic acid found in such sour foods as pickled cucumbers, kimchi, and yogurt, as well as for producing alcoholic beverages such as wine and beer. Fermentation occurs within the gastrointestinal tracts of all animals, including humans.
  
  Section::::Definitions.
  
  Below are some definitions of fermentation. They range from informal, general usages to more scientific definitions.
   Section::::Fermentation.
   Section::::Use today.
   Section::::Production of biomass.
  
  Microbial cells or biomass is sometimes the intended product of fermentation. Examples include single cell protein, bakers yeast, lactobacillus, E. coli, and others. In the case of single-cell protein, algae is grown in large open ponds which allow photosynthesis to occur. If the biomass is to be used for inoculation of other fermentations, care must be taken to prevent mutations from occurring.
  
  Section::::Production of extracellular metabolites.
   In the 19th century, when studying the fermentation of sugar to alcohol by yeast, Louis Pasteur concluded that this fermentation was catalyzed by a vital force contained within the yeast cells called "ferments", which he thought functioned only within living organisms. He wrote that "alcoholic fermentation is an act correlated with the life and organization of the yeast cells, not with the death or putrefaction of the cells."
  