The History of Fermentation: The Ancient Craft in Your Can

True style is timeless. And fermentation is a prime example. From the glasses of our ancestors to your table today, the history of fermentation has been quietly bubbling away throughout a large portion of human civilisation. 

Before we had refrigerators, science labs, or even a word for it, humans were already using fermentation to preserve, nourish and celebrate.

At Good Sodas™, fermentation is the heart of everything we do. So we figured it's time to give it the origin story it deserves.

Let's take it back to where it all started.

Want to know more about what fermentation actually is? Here's our fermentation explainer post.

The original biohack: 7000 BCE and beyond

Here's the wild thing, fermentation predates written history. That means, we’ve been fermenting longer than we’ve been writing. 

Fermentation wasn’t invented so much as discovered, and most likely by accident. The first examples were almost certainly cases of spontaneous fermentation. Someone left some dairy or gruel out, microorganisms in the environment got to work, and something unexpected happened. It tasted different. It lasted longer. And they didn’t get sick. That was pretty big stuff back then and still is today!

As well as creating a great flavour, fermentation creates an acidic environment where it’s difficult for pathogens (the things that make us sick) to grow. Fermenting provided a way for people to preserve food and produce beverages that were safe to drink, in a time when lack of clean drinking water and spoiled food was a big problem. 

When did it all begin?

The earliest confirmed archaeological evidence of fermentation is a 13,000-year-old residue of a gruel-like beer found in a cave near Haifa in Israel.

But the widespread intentional use of fermentation dates to around 7,000–6,600 BCE in Jiahu, China, where evidence of fermented rice, honey, and fruit beverages has been found.

By around 6,000 BCE, people in the region of modern-day Georgia were fermenting grapes into wine.

By circa 3000 BCE, the Egyptians had figured out how to brew fermented beer. It was such an instant hit that they built what's believed to be the earliest industrial scale brewery. Beer became a staple in all areas of life. It wasn't just a drink, it was nutrition, ritual, and celebration all in one. 

In other words: fermentation was a part of life for every major civilisation on Earth. It seems that humans and fermenting really do go hand in hand. 

Here’s a timeline of major milestones in the history of fermentation:

Fermentation around the world

Fermentation doesn’t just span time, it spans cultures, with each having their own unique take on it.

East Asia, many foods in Japan, China and Korea use Koji, a beneficial mould to make mould-fermented foods like miso, soy sauce, and tempeh. 

In South Asia, fermented drinks appear in the Indian Ayurvedic texts. These texts lay out a holistic science of life and refer to arishthas and asavas, which are fermented herbal and fruit juices used as medicine. Draksharishta, a fermented grape tonic with herbs, is among the oldest documented medicinal ferments, and is still used to aid in digestion among other things. 

In Europe, fermented milk products and beer were an essential part of daily nutrition. Sauerkraut (fermented cabbage) became a staple across northern Europe as a way to preserve vegetables through winter. 

In Africa, fermented porridges, sorghum beer and fermented milk have been consumed for thousands of years.

In Latin America, tepache (fermented pineapple) and chicha (fermented maize) were central to pre-Columbian life.

Fermentation was the OG food technology. It didn't just preserve food, it made it safer, more nutritious, and frankly, a lot more interesting.

Louis Pasteur and the science of fermentation

For most of human history, people knew fermentation worked but they didn't know how or why. The most common theory was that fermentation was a chemical reaction, not a biological one.

That was until 1857 when Louis Pasteur made a discovery that changed everything. He was the first to demonstrate that a living microscopic organism, and not a chemical reaction, was responsible for souring milk.

Pasteur went on to prove that yeast, a living organism, was responsible for converting sugar into alcohol, and that contaminating microorganisms in ordinary air could interfere with the process. His work laid the foundation for what we now call zymology (the science of fermentation) and allowed us to utilise this tool more intentionally.

Pasteur also developed, yeah you guessed it, the process of pasteurisation in which fermented products are gently heated to stabilise them. Another process we use here at Good Sodas™.

20th Century: fermentation meets the Industrial Revolution

As was the trend in the 20th century, industrialisation gave us a way to ferment en masse. Commercial lactic acid bacteria cultures were first used industrially in the 1930s, enabling production of yoghurt, cheese, and fermented beverages at scale.

This was also around the same time that artificial flavours and sweeteners entered the scene. The conventional sodas we know today were a product of this time, with syrup-based sodas making their appearance in the late 19th, early 20th centuries. Convenience was king, mass production was the future, and quality took a backseat. 

The past was fermented and so is the future

The comeback has been building for a while. Fermentation began experiencing a cultural revival around 2018, and that really took off in the pandemic. Interest in the gut microbiome and its role in immune health and the gut-brain connection brought fermented foods back into the mainstream. Well, that and the global obsession with perfecting sourdough.

The revival is being driven by something real: we want to know what's in our food and drink. We want natural ingredients over synthetic ones and products that are made with care, intentionality, and enjoyment in mind.  

It’s a return to an ancient art form, not only for nostalgia’s sake, but because it delivers something that can't be faked. 

We’re so proud to be a part of this ancient tradition. Fermentation gives our sodas a complexity and depth of flavour that only nature can create.

Good vibes, all day. Every day. Since approximately 7,000 BCE.

Get yourself a taste of history.

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