Chocolate
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Chocolate, or cocoa, is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form for at least 5,300 years starting with the Mayo-Chinchipe culture in what is present-day Ecuador. Later Mesoamerican civilizations also consumed chocolate beverages before being introduced to Europe in the 16th century.
Chocolate in its most common forms: powder and bars
Image from a Maya ceramic depicting a container of frothed chocolate
Mexica. Man Carrying a Cacao Pod, 1440–1521. Volcanic stone, traces of red pigment. Brooklyn Museum.
"Traités nouveaux & curieux du café du thé et du chocolate", by Philippe Sylvestre Dufour, 1685 ("New and curious treatises of coffee, tea and chocolate")
In food processing, fermentation is the conversion of carbohydrates to alcohol or organic acids using microorganisms—yeasts or bacteria—under anaerobic (oxygen-free) conditions. Fermentation usually implies that the action of microorganisms is desired. The science of fermentation is known as zymology or zymurgy.
Sourdough starter.
Conical loaves of bread left as grave goods, exactly as laid out in the Great Tomb at Gebelein, Egypt, 2435-2305 BC
Beer and bread, two major uses of fermentation in food