Fermentation is one of humanity's oldest biotechnologies, dating back at least 9,000 years. Archaeological evidence from China's Henan province reveals that Neolithic villagers were brewing fermented beverages from rice, honey, and fruit as early as 7000 BCE.
The process was discovered independently by cultures worldwide. Ancient Egyptians baked leavened bread and brewed beer. Mesopotamians had goddess Ninkasi, the patroness of brewing. In the Americas, indigenous peoples fermented cacao, agave, and corn.
For millennia, fermentation remained a mystery—a magical transformation attributed to divine intervention. It wasn't until Louis Pasteur's experiments in the 1850s that the role of microorganisms was finally understood.