Fungi In Food, Industry, and Science
Fungi play a quiet but essential role in many everyday systems, often in ways that go unnoticed. Beyond culinary mushrooms, fungi are used to ferment foods, produce ingredients, and support industrial and scientific processes that people interact with daily. This page explores how fungi appear across food, industry, and scientific discovery, far beyond what is typically seen on a plate.
Familiar Foods
Many everyday foods rely on fungi as part of how they are made, with one of the most common types being Yeast. Yeast is a type of fungus used in fermentation, converting sugars into gases and alcohols.
Cheese, bread, and wine are familiar foods shaped by fungal fermentation. Yeasts drive the transformation of grains into bread and beverages, while molds and surface fungi guide the aging and development of many cheeses. Together, these everyday foods illustrate how fungi quietly influence flavor, texture, and tradition across cuisines.
Soy sauce is produced through fermentation driven by fungi and yeasts working alongside bacteria. Molds such as Aspergillus break down proteins and carbohydrates in soybeans and grains, creating the deep savory flavors associated with traditional soy sauce. This slow fermentation process transforms simple ingredients into a staple used across cuisines worldwide. Across cultures, fungi have long been part of everyday cooking by shaping flavors, textures, and techniques that feel familiar even when their origins go unnoticed.
For a closer look at how mushrooms are prepared and enjoyed in the kitchen, see our Mushroom Cookbook.
Beer is one of the oldest fermented beverages in the world, made possible by yeast. Different yeast strains influence flavor, aroma, and mouthfeel, shaping styles from crisp lagers to complex ales. While often overlooked, yeast is central to brewing traditions that span cultures and centuries, quietly transforming simple grains into a globally shared beverage.
Fungi in Industry
Many products people use every day such as foods, cleaning agents, and medicines, are made possible through fungi. Industrial processes have long relied on fungi for their ability to transform simple raw materials into useful compounds at scale.
Citric Acid Production
Citric acid is produced at an industrial scale through fermentation using fungi, most commonly Aspergillus niger. In this process, sugars are converted into citric acid, which is then purified for widespread use. This fungal fermentation method has been used for decades and remains the primary way citric acid is manufactured globally.
Citric acid appears across a wide range of everyday products, including:
- Soft drinks and fruit beverages
- Packaged foods as an acidity regulator and preservative
- Household cleaning products
- Personal care items such as shampoos and cosmetics
- Pharmaceutical formulations
Fungi in Science
Alexander Fleming at work in his laboratory at St Mary’s Hospital, London, with culture plates similar to those where he first observed the antibacterial effects of Penicillium mold — public domain historical photograph.
One of the most significant medical discoveries in history came from fungi. In 1928, Scottish bacteriologist Alexander Fleming observed that a mold from the genus Penicillium inhibited the growth of bacteria in his laboratory. Fleming published his findings in 1929 in the British Journal of Experimental Pathology, describing the substance he named penicillin. This discovery led to the development of the first widely used antibiotic, transforming modern medicine and dramatically reducing deaths from bacterial infections. Penicillin and its derivatives remain foundational tools in healthcare, underscoring the lasting impact fungi have had on scientific progress.