Fermented food public science workshop studies on microbial succession and diversity
The Museum of Natural Sciences (Raleigh, NC) environment allowed the opportunity to provide three workshops demonstrating the process of food fermentation. Expert chefs and scientists came together to teach the art and science of fermentation while public participants learned and assisted with prepping experimental jars for the Museum Genomics &amp; Microbiology laboratory. The first workshop produced kimchi using either cabbage or radish, the second produced chow chow (combinations of up to four vegetables in salt brine), and the third produced fermented tea (aka kombucha) using green, black, or green and black tea starters. Completed experiments found pH levels and ran 16S rRNA variable region 4 amplicon high-throughput sequencing to identify the bacteria present at two stages of fermentation. ITS amplicon sequencing was simultaneously run on the fermented tea samples to identify fungi present at the same two stages of fermentation.