History of Yeast

Yeasts can be considered man’s earliest known industrial microorganism. It’s likely that man used yeast before the development of a written language. Hieroglyphics suggest that ancient Egyptians were using yeast to produce alcoholic beverages and to leaven bread over 5,000 years ago. The biochemical process of fermentation that is responsible for these actions was not understood and undoubtedly looked upon by early man as a mysterious and even magical phenomenon.   

With the invention of the microscope, it became possible to isolate yeast in pure culture form. The pioneering scientific work of Louis Pasteur in the late 1860’s made it possible to commercially produce baker’s yeast, wine yeast, and nutritional yeast.