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Valentine’s Day, with its promise of sugar and spice, is just around the corner, so look past the hearts and balloons and into your wine glass.
From a scientific point of view, this is an interesting liquid. The recipe seems simple enough. However, the process that unfolds in the barrel is so complex that it was only deciphered by Louis Pasteur in his 1800s.
Most wine is made by pouring grape juice into a large container and adding yeast (technically yeast). a type of fungus).
Currently, grapes are mainly composed of the simple sugars glucose and fructose (approximately 18% to 30%), with the remaining volume made up of water and small amounts of acids, proteins, and flavonoids. Monosaccharides immediately attract the attention of any microorganisms present. Fungi, yeasts, and bacteria that were trapped with the air and grape juice, or that were present in the barrel itself, then compete to consume this sugar.
Yeasts use clever tricks to stay ahead of other yeasts. Standard metabolism of sugars allows for rapid division and growth. But at the same time, and crucially, it triggers something called the Crabtree effect (named after biochemist Herbert Crabtree), which slowly breaks down sugar into ethanol, a type of alcohol.
This process produces nearly 20 times less energy than a normal decomposition cycle. However, it increases the alcohol level in the grape juice and quickly makes the environment inside the barrel too toxic for most microorganisms. In this way, yeast completely eliminates competition.
But like many winners, yeast never knows when to stop. If left in an anaerobic environment, it will continue to metabolize sugars into ethanol, although this may be harmful to itself. When the alcohol level reaches 10% to 15%, most of the yeast itself dies and either becomes dormant or settles to the bottom in clumps. This has an effect on eosinophils. What emerges from the barrel is a clear, elevated drink that bears little resemblance to the cloudy, opaque juice it contained.
Of course, things don’t always go this smoothly. Sometimes sudden deterioration or interruption of the process occurs. In fact, fermentation used to be very unpredictable. 4000 BC, variations were due to the whims of the goddess. They named her Ninkasi (or the woman who fills her mouth) for her soothing gesture.
Until the 19th century, if a lot of wine became sour, bitter, or lacked flavor, it had to be thrown away. This caused devastating losses in France, which was already a world leader in production.
Finally, in 1863, Napoleon III asked the eminent chemist Louis Pasteur to find out exactly what was going on in the barrel and how it could be better controlled, in order to find a cure for wine “diseases.” I asked you to help me. It is easy now to discount Pasteur’s discoveries, but in just his third year he succeeded in dispelling years of ignorance.
Humans have long known what yeast can accomplish, but never quite understood how. Pasteur used observations and experiments to construct a biological model that clearly demonstrated that fermentation involved living organisms such as yeast and bacteria. Making fermentation a biochemical process rather than just a chemical one.
He also deciphered the role of oxygen and explained how the presence of certain bacteria after fermentation can contaminate and spoil old wine. By the time Pasteur was finished, there was much less guesswork involved. It was understood that wine aged in barrels must be transferred from permeable containers to impermeable sterile containers such as bottles.
“Wine defects” still occur and heat can change the flavor. The yeast may die and aging may stop. Because not even Pasteur could answer all the questions. Ultimately, this process depends on the consumption and excretion patterns of the organism. And living things, unlike chemical or physical processes, are inherently changeable.
Well, come Wednesday, taste the wine and find out what mysteries still remain. And remember the impact. Not like fruit flies exposed to alcohol vapor in 2013. A paper published in the Annual Review of Neuroscience by American researchers Anita Devineni and Ulrike Heberlein shows that fruit flies exhibit increased courtship behavior. He also got excited and bumped into obstacles more often, moving faster, falling over, and eventually falling asleep.
I hope you have a wonderful Valentine’s Day. May you fall asleep only where you intended.
(To contact Swetha Sivakumar with questions or feedback, email upgrademyfood@gmail.com)
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