Brett Taubman | Culture and Chemistry: The Impact of Fermentation Science

On this episode of Appalachian Excellence, we explore the fascinating world of fermentation with Dr. Brett Taubman, professor and director of the Fermentation Sciences program at Appalachian State University. In his latest book, Southern Culture on the Fizz, An Effervescent Guide to Fermented Foods and Beverages from the American South, Taubman discusses the science behind fermentation, its historical and cultural significance in the American South and groundbreaking research on its applications—from improving food safety to addressing Alpha-gal syndrome, a tick-borne meat allergy. We also delve into the role of native Appalachian yeasts, innovative brewing techniques, and the future of fermentation in both academia and industry.

 

Show Notes

Contact:

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Dr. Taubman's latest book from UNC Press:

Southern Culture on the Fizz, An Effervescent Guide to Fermented Foods and Beverages from the American South

 

Transcript:

Karen:

Welcome to Appalachian Excellence, a show where we feature Appalachian State University research, scholarship, and creative activity that creates solutions and inspires change. We're here to bring you stories of incredible work happening right here in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. I'm your host, Karen Fletcher, where my day job has me working in the Office of Research and Innovation here at App State, and I've got my producer in the studio with me. Hey, Dave.

Dave:

Hey, what's up Karen? How's it going?

Karen:

It's going pretty good.

Dave:

I was just about to turn on the light because I'm just sitting here in the dark, so you guys can't see me over here. But yeah, happy to be here again.

Karen:

Yeah, I'm excited with our guest today we-

Dave:

Me too.

Karen:

... have Dr. Brett Taubman. Dr. Taubman is a professor in the A.R. Smith Department of Chemistry and Fermentation Sciences at Appalachian State University. He earned Bachelor of Science degrees in finance and chemistry from the Pennsylvania State University and Montana State University respectively, and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Maryland in 2004. Following his graduate studies, he worked as a postdoctoral research associate at the Pennsylvania State University before joining the faculty at App State in 2007. Dr. Taubman's research focuses on the chemistry of fermentation as it relates to beer filamentous fungi, also known as mold and the removal of anti-nutritional compounds in foods and beverages. He has successfully developed an instructional fermentation facility at Appalachian State University and serves as president of Ivory Tower Inc, a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation with the mission of supporting research and education with fermentation sciences. Dr. Taubman helped to develop the four-year degree program in fermentation sciences at Appalachian State University for which he's currently the director. I'm really excited to talk to you about your work today. So hello, Brett.

Brett:

Hi, Karen. How are you?

Karen:

I'm doing great. I thought we'd start out today by laying the groundwork of what exactly is fermentation.

Brett:

You got to start with the hard question, don't you? And I wish I had an easy answer for that, and in fact, that's the way that I start my book is trying to answer that question, which you would think as a fermentation scientist and somebody who's been doing this for a long time would have an easy answer for that, but I don't. Typically, it's viewed as an anaerobic process, so in the absence of oxygen, and typically it's done by microbes, although not all the time for either of those, there are certainly aerobic fermentation processes. So in the presence of oxygen, like about those filamentous fungi as you mentioned, or molds, which is the lay term for them. And also you can extract the enzymes from the microbes to do the same processes without the microbes being present. So it doesn't have to have microbes present either.

But one thing that most people can agree on as far as what fermentation is, is breaking down larger biomolecules to smaller molecules that typically make them easier to consume by us, for example, although it doesn't need to be done on food sources either. So that's where it gets a little squirrely again, but it's not an easy process to define. But like I said, typically microbes typically in the absence of oxygen, but almost universally you're using those microbes or the enzymes in the microbes to degrade larger molecules to smaller molecules that are more useful for one purpose or another.

Karen:

So fe