Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with fermentation

Why did my food explode?

dame — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 15:46:45 -0800

Why did my hummus explode? I bought hummus last weekend from Trader Joes. Garlic. No preservatives, but the sell-by date was April 11, two days after today. I brought it home and put it in the fridge. It swelled. A lot. So I stuck a knife into the thin plastic covering (the this has not been tampered with stuff) and it exploded (in my sink). Why? I mean, I assume some serious fermenting was going on, but what? And why in this case? I've had hummus a lot longer and never had this happen.

Do the berries make it boozier?

aneel — Tue, 11 Apr 2006 01:41:48 -0800

Does a vodka fruit infusion ferment? Is the resulting drink more alcoholic than the base distilled spirit? If you start with a distilled alcohol (say, 40 proof vodka) and let fruit steep in it for several months, do you get more alcohol from the sugars that were in the fruit?

It was my understanding that the reason alcohol was distilled, rather than just fermented for longer with more sugar was that the yeasts doing the fermentation would be killed at a certain concentration of alcohol and the fermentation would stop. However, a chemist friend of mine insists that there are wild microorganisms in his infusions that are making more alcohol. Is he right?

Are there other factors (evaporation? dilution by the addition of a volume of fruit?) that would cause the infusion to become significantly stronger or weaker? Is there something that would make the drink seem stronger, even though the alcohol content hadn't changed?

Fermented applesauce good to eat?

breath — Sat, 30 Apr 2005 11:22:00 -0800

I've got a jar of organic applesauce that started smelling sour about two weeks after I bought it. Should I eat it? I know that it's possible to ferment your own alcoholic drinks in this way, but am I going to get wicked messed up/sick if it happened naturally? The total quantity is like 12 oz, so I'm not planning on going on a bender. Maybe having it on some waffles.

The science of alcohol

Juicylicious — Thu, 13 May 2004 11:43:45 -0800

I know that there are no carbs in hard liquor (gin, vodka, etc), but why? I've been told that the carbs are burnt off in the distilling process, but I'd like to know exactly how that occurs. Weblinks are helpful.