Fermented, multi-plant ingredients in cosmetics

It has been suggested that the earliest references to mankind’s development of fermentation occurred in the regions around Mesopotamia nearly 4,000 years ago.1 Most likely, these early fermentations occurred by accident when foods being stored were exposed to microorganisms such as Saccharomyces and Lactobacillus

The human nose is very sensitive to spoilage so the ferments would have had to have been controlled to not take the foods being fermented to their final unpleasant, odorous spoilage. And, of course, the discovery that the fungus Saccharomyces cerevisiae converts sugars to ethanol brought along a powerful new industry that has been truly refined in modern times.2

It could be argued that the bulk of mankind’s understanding of fermentation has emerged from investigations into alcohol fermentation. Fermentation has also been applied to various unique food substances. The Korean food kimchi is a well-known fermented form of cabbage in which the cabbage leaves are placed into stone crocks and stored outdoors while natural microorganisms along with a unique blend of spices, converts the leaves to kimchi (Figure 1).