When microbes make the food
Chocolate lovers who think of their passion as rich, sweet, and naturally delicious might want to stay out of Harvard scientist Ben Wolfe’s classroom this summer. Not only is chocolate naturally bitter, Wolfe told students last week, but the way that quality is removed is by fermenting in a heap covered by banana leaves for several days. Wolfe may be taking some of the romance out of chocolate, but he isn’t casting it away. Instead, he’s transferring a bit of its allure to our seldom-appreciated partners in gastronomy: the bacteria and fungi that do heavy lifting, transforming a constellation of foods around the world into edible, flavorful, and even intoxicating creations. Wolfe, who calls cheese his “favorite fermented milk product,” is sharing his enthusiasm for food, drink, and microbes in a new class at Harvard Summer School called “Feast and Famine: The Microbiology of Food.” A postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Bauer Fellow...