fermentation (ferment ash on)

[=F. fer mentation = Sp. ferment a cion Pg. fermen tação = It. ferment azione, the nutritive elements of the fermented substance are exhausted, or a sufficient proportion of a substance (as alcohol) deleterious to the ferment-organism is produced. It may be checked or altogether prevented by anything which prevents the growth of the organism, as by exclusion of the germs or spores, by subjection to a temperature too high or too low, by the presence of too large a proportion of sugar or of a substance (called an antiseptic) which acts as a poison to the organism. There are various kinds of fermentation, each of which is caused by special organisms. Alcoholic fermentation in saccharine solutions, or fermentation in its most restricted sense, may be produced bruised vegetables or of their extracted juice. ferment-organism (ferment-organ-izm), n. An organism which produces fermentation; a ferment.