Alcohol
Exactly
when humans first encountered alcohol is not known. Like so many beginnings it is lost in the ambiguous
deep of time. All we can say about this first encounter is that it probably
occurred in humanity's earliest infancy, ant that the meeting was entirely
fortuitous. Alcohol comes to us owing nothing to the human creative hand but,
like fore, stumbled upon, and bent to our use.
The origin of alcohol
probably goes back 200 million years or so (late Paleozoic), when the materials
that its generation requires had all appeared on earth; namely, water, plant
sugars (or starches), and yeast.
a. Yeast is a ubiquitously prolific microorganism with a
voracious appetite for sweets.
b. Like all fungi, yeasts lack chlorophyll and cannot
manufacture their own food.
c. Yeast is a single-celled ascomycete (fungus) and, in an
anaerobic environment, yeast will forego aerobic respiration in favor of
fermentation.
i.
Fermentation is a
form of combustion, resulting in the breakdown of carbohydrates into alcohol
and carbon dioxide.
ii.
In metabolizing
sugar to obtain energy for itself, it creates ethyl alcohol as a by-product of
its efforts.
iii.
Alcoholic
fermentation is the result of anaerobic respiration by yeast.
iv.
Fermentation, the
breakdown of carbohydrates to alcohol and CO2 - is not a total
combustion. Yeast has only a limited tolerance for alcohol: when the alcohol
content of the anaerobic environment reaches above 14%m the yeast organism
dies.
v.
Yeast used for
the preparation of products for consumption (beer and wine) is chiefly of the
genus Saccharomyces
vi.
Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a brewer’s yeast, is a representative of budding
yeasts that occur in nature on various fruits
Natural products have no
doubt produced foodstuffs containing alcohol for millions of years.
Occasionally, animals accidentally consume alcohol that came into being as
spoiled fruit in the natural process of fermentation.
a. (mockingbirds and fermented pyracantha
fruits).
Humans have a gene for the
enzyme, alcohol-dehydrogenase (necessary for the
metabolism of alcohol).
The presence of this gene
forces us to consider that over evolutionary time animals have encountered
alcohol enough times to have evolved a way to metabolize it.
a. Incidentally,
about ˝ of all Asian people lack an enzyme - alcohol dehydrogenase
- necessary for the complete metabolism of
alcohol, making the experience of drinking very unpleasant.
b.
There is some conjecture that the first human encounter with alcohol was as
fermented honey, or mead (collected honey which had been left unattended longer
than usual).
i. Natural fermentation would have created a mild
alcohol out of the honey, and if the taster fond the slightly intoxicating
effects agreeable, (s)he may have replicated the
experiment.
ii. The technique was fairly simple: just leave the
sweet substance alone to ferment.
iii. Actually, the sugar in pure honey is so
concentrated that Saccharomyces
and other fungi and bacteria cannot live on it (hence its long shelf life) If
honey is diluted with water, it provides an excellent medium for yeasts because
it consists of simple sugars. Consequently, before humans could have
consciously made mead, they would have had to gather wild honey and dilute it
(by washing the combs or sweetening water).
Fermentation
Virtually all beverage
alcohol is produced by various species of the genus Saccharomyces. This genus belongs
to a group of fungi known as yeasts. Like all fungi, yeasts lack chlorophyll
and cannot manufacture their own food.
Although many fungi can carry out fermentation, species
of Saccharomyces
are generally used because they are comparatively efficient at alcohol
production and can tolerate higher levels of ethanol than can most fungi. Also
during fermentation they produce compounds other than alcohol that are believed
to influence the final flavor of the fermented liquid.
The species of Saccharomyces that are used for alcohol production,
primarily S. cerevisiae
and S. uuvarum
are able to ferment sugar into ethanol under anaerobic (oxygen-free)
conditions, usually in a solution.
Species
of Saccharomyces live by ingesting sugar produced by
other organisms. Only simple sugars (monosaccharides
or disaccharides) can be used by these yeasts. (Monosaccharides
are the most common type of sugar found in nature; disaccharides include
sucrose, table sugar, and maltose, a sugar important in the making of beer).
Yeast cannot effectively metabolize
starch even though starch is composed of units of sugar molecules.
Consequently, in the production of all fermented beverages, the material that
is to be fermented must contain natural mono- and disaccharides that have been
produced by enzymatic degradation of starches. So, enzymes in some form must be
added to almost anything that is fermented except honey and some fruit juices.
During the process of fermentation
simple sugars are broken down via a number of intermediate steps into ethanol
and carbon dioxide. From the yeast's point of view, these are waste products.
As the yeast culture grows and metabolizes more and more
of the sugars in the liquid, carbon dioxide builds up and causes the solution
to become bubbly. This gas is often allowed to escape from the solution. With
unlimited sugar, the alcohol level increases during fermentation until it
reaches a concentration between 12 and 18%. Levels of alcohol above 18 or 19%
are usually toxic to the yeast and leads to the death of the cells. This
tolerance limit laces an upper value on the % of alcohol produced solely by
fermentation. Achieving a higher percentage of alcohol requires that the
solution be fortified by adding more concentrated alcohol or by distillation.
Role of Alcohol
I'd like now to turn to the
role alcohol may have played throughout most of Western civilization's history.
Because for the past few millennia, alcoholic beverages may
have been the most popular and common daily drink, indispensable sources of
fluid and calories.
1.
In a world of
contaminated and dangerous water supplies, alcohol truly earned the title
granted it in the Middle Ages - aqua vitae - water of life.
2.
We know that the
development of agriculture led to food surpluses, which in turn, led to larger
groups of people living in close quarters - in cities of villages. How do you
provide inhabitants with enough clean water to sustain their constant need for
physiological hydration? Water supply of any group of people living in close
proximity rapidly became polluted with their own waste products.
a.
How many died
from quenching their own thirst with water cannot be known.
b.
Based on current
worldwide crises of dysentery and infectious disease wrought by unclean water
supplies, a safe bet is that a remarkably large portion of our ancestry
succumbed to tainted water (cholera, typhus).
3.
Beer and wine are
free of pathogens. The antiseptic power of alcohol, the natural acidity of wine
and beer, killed many pathogens when alcoholic drinks were diluted with the
sullied water supply.
4.
Since the
conscious application of the fermentation process, people of all ages in the
West have consumed beer and wine, not water, as their major daily thirst
quencher.
5.
The experience in
the East differed considerably because for the past 2,000 years the practice of
boiling water, usually for tea, has created potable water supply of
nonalcoholic beverages.
a.
Additionally,
genetics play a role in
6.
The beer and wine
Westerners relied on for their daily beverage had a much
lower alcohol content than the beer and wine familiar to today's consumers.
Beverages also contained large amounts of acetic acid and other organic acids
created during fermentation.
a.
As the alcohol
content was low, consumers focused on taste, thirst, and hunger satisfaction
rather than intoxication.
b.
These alcoholic
beverages provided necessary caloric value and essential micronutrients, such
as vitamins and minerals.
7.
Until recently,
the only analgesic generally available in the West was alcohol.
a.
Hippocrates'
therapeutic system featured wines as remedies for almost all acute and chronic
ailments known in his time.
Wine
Wine making
Since grapes are naturally
equipped with everything necessary for fermentation, the process of wine-making
is basically very simple.
1.
Grapes are
harvested when sugar content reaches a critical level.
2.
Grapes are
crushed and the juice is allowed to ferment. (Juice can be expressed by
stomping on them barefoot or with hand-operated or electric or fuel-powered
presses.
3.
Sulfur dioxide is
mixed in with the expressed juice to kill any bacteria.
4.
White wine -
If the expressed juice is to be made into white wine, the free juice is run
into fermentation tanks and the skins and stems are repressed (taken out).
5.
Red wine -
For red wine, the skins go into the fermentation vat with the juice.
a.
The red color of
red or rose wine (from which the skins are removed after a short time) is due
to pigments in the skins that dissolve in the juice.
b.
White wine can be
made from red grapes if the skins are removed right after pressing.
c.
Red wine cannot
be naturally made from white grapes: red wine from White Thompson Seedless
grapes have the color added.
6.
Once juice is in
the fermentation vats, the preferred yeast is added (although fermentation
could take place without additional yeast added).
7.
Fermentation
continues for about 8-10 days.
8.
After the initial
fermentation, there is a second fermentation for about 1-month.
9.
Fermentation is
complete when there is no more fermentable sugar, or the alcohol levels reach
levels toxic to yeasts.
a.
Sweet wine -
Fermentation is stopped before all the sugar has been converted to ethanol or
sugar must remain after the yeast has died for a wine to be sweet.
10. The time of aging varies.
a.
White wines are
usually aged from 1 year to 18 months.
b.
Red wines are
aged for up to 5 years.
11. When wine is ready, after the tank aging is complete,
it is bottled.
a.
Some white wines
benefit by aging in the bottle for up to 5 years.
b.
Red wines can
improve from 30-40 years after bottled.
Beer
1.
Some
anthropologists have correlated the brewing of beer with the establishment of
permanent human settlements. Certainly the practice was established by the
beginning of recorded history.
2.
Beer, which
relies on large amounts of starchy grains, probably waited until the origin and
development of agriculture (We know that the area of the
a.
Babylonian clay
tablets, > 6,000 years old give beer recipes, complete with illustrations.
b.
The earliest
known brewery is dated to 3,500 BCE in a Sumerian trading post on the
c.
Early brewing is
usually linked with bread making.
1.
One of the early
ways of making grains digestible was to sprout them.
2.
Barley breads
were initially made from sprouted grains that had been dried and ground into
flour.
3.
A
soft dough of sprouted barley would
be a good place for yeasts to live.
4.
Egyptian beers in
fact were made from a solution of water and pieces of dough made of sprouted
barley that was subsequently allowed to ferment.
d.
Early beer was
easy to make but the liquid to be fermented was initially left exposed to the
air so wild yeasts, like Saccharomyces, and other
microbes would fall into it.
3. The 3 basic
ingredients used in making beer are barley malt, hops, and water.
4.
Malt - any
sprouted grain that has been subsequently dried. In practice, it usually refers
to barley grain, Hordeum vulgare (Poaceae).
a. Barley contains the largest amount of enzymes
necessary for converting starches to
fermentable sugars.
b.
At the beginning
of germination, the embryo produces enzymes that break down the starch into
sugars that can be readily absorbed by the developing seedling, and used as a
source of energy.
5.
Hops (Humulus lupulus. Cannabaceae). Dioecious vines that produce clusters of
flowers; the clusters of pistillate flowers resemble a pinecone because of the
subtending bracts.
Hops is used in beer
for a number of purposes:
a.
It imparts a pleasant taste and aroma to beer. Both
the flowers and bracts of the female hops plant have glands that produce the
characteristic hop flavors.
b.
Hops
contributes to the production of a
clear, sparkling beer (clarification)
by coagulating unwanted proteins in the solution.
c.
Compounds leached
from the hops appear to have antibacterial
properties that help prevent spoilage of beer.
Chicha
1.
In Central and
2.
Since barley malt
wasn't available, they used a different source for amylases to break down the
starch.
3.
Kernels of corn
were chewed for a short period to mix them with the salivary amylases, and the
chewed mass was spit into a container of ground corn and water and allowed to
ferment.
4.
Chicha is still produced this way in remote regions of
Pulque
1.
In arid and
semiarid regions of central
2.
The sap is
allowed to ferment for about 14 days.
3.
In
Siberians ferment koumiss
from mare’s milk.
In
Beer
1. Beer is basically fermented grain.
2. Beer can be made from any starchy carbohydrate source,
but barley, used by the ancients, is the basis of most modern beers.
3. Since beer making begins with starches - and not with
sugars like wine -
there are several preliminary steps in brewing before the yeast
is introduced and fermentation can begin. Starch must first be converted to
sugar to feed the yeast.
4. Step 1
: Preparation of the
malt: barley grains are moistened with water and then allowed to germinate.
Barley germinants produce enzymes that catalyze the
breakdown of starch.
5. Step 2: the
germinated grains are then dried in a kiln and crushed to make malt powder.
a. The color of beer is determined by how the malt was
roasted: pale malts are dried at lower temps.;
specialty malts are roasted at higher temps for a longer period of time to carmelize the sugars and so impart a darker color.
6. Step 3: The malt
is added to the grain starch and heated in a mash tun.
This mixture is the mash. Here the malt enzymes break down the starch to
sugars. (The starch can be of any grain: wheat, corn ,
rice, or barley. In
7. Step 4:The mash
is strained producing a clear liquid called a wort.
8. Step 5:The wort is boiled with hops (Humulus
lupulus: Cannabaceae),
a vine in the hemp family. The yellow-green pistillate flowers are used. Hops adds both a desirably bitter flavor to the brew to
counteract the sweetness of the malt, and has antibacterial properties, keeping
the beer from spoiling. Hopped beers are said to retain the foamy head longer.
9. Step 6:Yeast is
introduced after the wort is strained and cooled. The
main action of yeast is to convert sugars into ethanol and carbon dioxide.
a. Lager beers
are fermented by yeast that settle to the bottom of
the fermentation tank.
b. Ale is
produced by top-fermenting yeast that ferments at higher temperatures than the
colder fermenting lager yeasts.
Fermentation continues for up
to a week, at which time the wort is now a beer.
10. Step 7:Beer is
then aged. Flavor often developed by adding beechwood
chips to the tank.
11. Step 8:A second
fermentation (kraeusening) produces the natural
carbonation of the beer, altho most mass-produced
beer are carbonated at bottling by adding CO2 recovered from earlier
fermentations.
12. Step 9: Beer
is then clarified and bottled, canned or put into kegs.
Almost all the numerous Stone Age cultures that have
survived into modern times have demonstrated an indigenous familiarity with
alcohol. (Exceptions include the
polar peoples and the Aboriginal people of
a. Polynesians drank a kava beer
b. Mandigo people of
c. Natives of
d. Mayans and Incas of South America drank chicha, a beer prepared from maize.
e. Native Americans were drinking an alcoholic beverage -
fermented birch and sugar maple sap - when the English colonists first arrived
here.
f. The Masai of Kenya drink a
brew of honey wine.
Alcoholic consumption in
these indigenous populations was invariably a communal rite, clearly
circumscribed ceremonially, by ritual and obligations.
a.
Across cultures,
there are often very clear protocols regarding the preparation and use of
alcohol.
b.
The individual
inebriate - the lone drinker - is conspicuous by his absence from most of
preliterate communities. The casual use of alcohol, like the individual
inebriate, is a product of civilization.
After about 9,000 years of
experience drinking relatively low alcohol beer, wine, and mead, the West was
confronted with alcohol of a highly concentrated form - thanks to distillation.
Human use of alcohol in the
form of fermented grains, juices, and mead is extremely ancient. Distilled
spirits, in contrast, were not known to the ancients.
1.
Legend ascribes
the discovery of distillation to the alchemist Geber
(whose proper Arabic name was Jabir ibn Hayyan), born in the year
702. He was a Mesopotamian or Greek, who converted to Islam.
a.
The word alcohol
is derived from the Arabic word for the distilled scents and fine antimony
salts (or kohl) women used to stain their eyes (like eye shadow). It also
represented “essence”.
b.
In general, early
uses were medicinal or the liquid obtained was used as a solvent.
2.
Although yeasts
produce alcohol, they can tolerate concentrations of only 15-19%. Fermented
beverages had a natural proof: proof = twice the % of alcohol; 80
proof = 40% alcohol.
3.
Fermented
beverages had a natural ceiling of, at most, 30-40 proof (15-20%).
4.
Distillation circumvents nature's limit by taking
advantage of the differential boiling points of alcohol and water.
a.
Alcohol boils at
78 degrees C (172 degrees F).
b.
Water boils at
100 degrees C (212 degrees F).
c.
Boiling a mixture
of alcohol and water at a temperature above 78 c and below 100 C, puts more of
the mixture's volatile alcohol than water into vapor.
d.
Condensing that
vapor - say, through water-cooled coils - yields a liquid with a much higher
alcohol level than that of the starting mixture.
Whiskey
1.
All whiskeys are
basically made by fermenting malted barley (or malted barley mixed with another
grain), and distilling the product.
2.
The differences
lie in the kinds of grain used, the places and lengths of time of aging, and
presence or absence of blending.
3.
Scotch is
made only from barley malt.
a.
The
characteristic taste is caused by the kilning of the malt over fires fueled by
peat moss.
b.
The aging takes
place in new or used casks that have been charred.
4.
Bourbon is
an American invention, originally developed in
a.
By law, bourbon
must be made from at least 51% corn (Zea
maize), and distilled to produce a solution of less than 95% alcohol.
b.
It must be aged
for at least 2 years in new, charred oak barrels. Barrels cannot be reused,
adding to the expense of bourbon.
5.
a.
It must be aged
for 2 years in new barrels.
b.
It differs from
scotch in that the malt is not dried over peat.
6.
Gin, vodka, and rum differ from whiskeys in that they are distilled to a very high % of
alcohol and, therefore, lack many of the flavoring agents that are carried
across with the ethanol in other whiskeys.
a.
None of these
spirits are aged.
7.
Gin is
traditionally made from a distillate of fermented mash made from malt and other
grains.
a. It is flavored with juniper (Juniperus communis: Cupressaceae)
berries (actually fleshy cones).
8.
Vodka is
made from malt and grains or from potatoes, whichever is cheaper.
a.
Made in
9.
Rum is the distillate
of fermented molasses or sugar cane juice (Saccharum officinale), harvested in the
1.
Rum is the first
spirituous liquor to be manufactured in the
2.
It was
manufactured on
3.
Within a
generation, the manufacture of rum had become
4.
The
5.
A diabolically
lucrative trade developed:
a.
Slaves from
b.
Molasses from the
c.
Rum from the
Colonies to
d.
Guns from
Alcohol and Metabolism (metabolism = oxidation = combustion)
1.
Almost all the
alcohol ingested is metabolized.
2.
Alcohol is
metabolized at a constant rate, independent of the amount of alcohol ingested.
3. Human body burns about 1/3 - 1/2 oz. of alcohol per
hour. That's little less than 1 average drink per hour.
a.
If you drink more than that, alcohol
accumulates in your bloodstream, and you become intoxicated.
b.
Exercising or
drinking coffee doesn't appreciably affect the rate of combustion; nor do any
known drugs.
c.
The combustion rate
of alcohol in the body seems to be a constant in human physiology. In other
words, once you are drunk (alcohol in bloodstream in excess of its rate of
metabolism), all coffee will do at this point is keep you awake while you are
drunk. Won't be any less drunk. Awake or asleep, you're still drunk.
4.
Once in the
bloodstream, alcohol persists until it has been burned and banished from the
body by the process of oxidation.
a.
Alcohol is
oxidized in the liver.
b.
It is a
continuous process
c.
Whereas excess
food is stored away as fat for future use, alcohol is not set aside and
circulates with blood flow until fully metabolized. The only way for alcohol to
leave the system is by metabolic breakdown, a process that is linear over time.
5.
The quickness of
alcohol's metabolism distinguishes it from other foods, including fats,
proteins, and carbohydrates. Their molecular structure is too complex for
immediate metabolism. (They first have to e broken down by various digestive
acids and enzyme catalysts that are secreted in the mouth, stomach, and small
intestines). Only then can their essential elements be assimilated into the
body.
6.
Alcohol needs no
such preparation; it is as assimilable as water. It
is soluble in both water and fats, and so easily moves across membranes.
Rate of alcohol absorption
1.
Chief deterrent
to prompt absorption of alcohol is food.
a.
Larger the meal,
the slower the absorption.
b.
Complex foods
more effective in slowing the rate of alcohol absorption thru the stomach:
protein (milk, butter, meat, eggs).
c.
Proteins linger
in stomach longer than other foods.
d.
Story: drinking
bout in neighborhood bar in LA between 2 alcoholics. Wager: whoever became
unable to stand would pay the bill. One fellow ordered the bartender to put a
raw egg in each of his drinks. The other took his straight.
e.
Egg nog, hot-buttered rum, bloody mary.
2.
Water can delay
alcohol absorption by dilution.
3.
Soda water –
quickens the absorption rate because CO2 (effervescence) sweeps thru the
stomach pushing the alcohol into the small intestines and on into the blood
stream.
Head ache –
marked dilation of sensitive cranial arteries.
Thirst –
alcohol consumption shifts cellular fluid balance: it increases extracellular fluid at expense of intracellular fluid,
resulting in the scratch of thirst.
Physiological effects
1.
fatigue
(depressed Central Nervous System)
2.
lower body
temperature – dilates peripheral blood vessels, giving illusion of warmth, but
actually accelerates the loss of body heat (don’t drink when cold)
3.
lowers blood
pressure (don’t use in instance of shock)
Alcohols
1.
Drinking alcohol
is ethyl alcohol or ethanol.
2.
Methyl alcohol,
or wood alcohol (methylated spirits)
a.
burns very slowly
(takes long time to metabolize)
b.
metabolites include formic acid,
the protective venom found in ants,
spiders, and nettles.
c.
Formic acid can
destroy the optic nerve, leading to blindness.
Fermented Foods