Chintu just wanted to eat Idli...

Today Chintu was very angry. Why, you  might ask? Because, his so-called best friend Arvind brought idli in his lunch box but he didn't share it with Chintu. Now, Chintu was marching home so that his mom could make him idli right then. Reaching home, he stomped up to his mother and demanded, “Make me some idli RIGHT NOW! Arwind didn’t share with me, so now you have to prepare some for me.”

“I can't make it right away, Chintu, it takes time to prepare for idli”, his mother answered calmly. Chintu again irritated, whined, “But WHY?? I want to have it right now! I’m really hungry.” His mummy answered, “Because, the idli batter must be kept overnight so that it can ferment and become frothy.” 

“Ferment”, that word confused Chintu. What does it mean, he thought. He said, “Well, ferment it faster then.” His mother laughed and told him, “Fermentation, it means that bacteria like lactic acid bacteria use up the carbon sources like sugar, starch, etc. and produce CO₂ and heat as byproducts and make the batter fluffy and frothy.” Chintu was appalled,“You mean to say, we are eating BACTERIA!!”  All this time, he was eating idli sambhar, he was eating BACTERIA! 

“Yes,” his mother answered, “these bacteria are also in the curd that you love so much.” Chintu listened in fascination. “To make curd, we add a spoonful of it to warm milk and keep it overnight, so that these lactic acid bacteria convert lactose sugar present in milk to lactic acid.” Chintu was impressed.

He followed his mother into the kitchen where she started  to make the idli batter for the next morning. He asked, “What do they do? After entering our body?”  She continued, while washing the daal and rice, “They stay in our gut, utilise some of the carbon source and produce essential vitamins like vitamin B9, etc. These are called probiotics and it's good for our body.”

Chintu was so impressed with these little bacteria. He asked, “ Can I do this fermentation?” His mother then smiled and said, “No, but other than lactic acid bacteria, yeast can also perform fermentation. They are called baker’s yeast and they are added to the dough of bread. They produce CO₂ which lifts the dough and makes it soft and airy.”

Finished with making the idli batter, Chintu’s mother concluded her lesson and told his son, “There are various food and dairy products that we eat in our day to day life that are made with the help of fermentation like, pickle, yogurt, etc. For now, we will eat idli tomorrow and you can tell your friends all about fermentation.” 

With that, Chintu and his mother left the kitchen, letting the bacteria work its magic on the idli batter. 

↦The End↤

REFERENCE:

1. Illustration taken from Paramecium Parlour

2. https://sciencing.com/5-uses-fermentation-10015326.html

3. https://www.heartfoundation.org.nz/about-us/news/blogs/fermented-foods-the-latest-trend