New data on amylolytic fermentation in the Amazon

Abstract

In a previous article (Barghini, 2020), it was shown that the amylolytic fermentation of carbohydrates to produce alcoholic beverages was widespread from Guianas to the upper Amazon, in Venezuela and Colombia, and reached the Misquitos, Central America. However, of the 43 reports studied, only one referred to the right side of the Amazon River, and only a single biochemical analysis of the resulting products was found. In this article, the analysis of two products: tiquira and tarubá, widespread in the local culture and the national culture, but of indigenous origin, allowed us to expand our knowledge about the geographic reach of this process. The significant number of biochemical analyses available for these two products also broadened our understanding of the Amazon basin’s fermentation processes. It partly extended the results to other processes described by missionaries and chroniclers, in general, neglected by anthropologists. Based on the new data, it is possible to affirm that fermentation processes had a fundamental role in the conservation and transformation of food in environments such as tropical forests, where the climate favors especially aggressive food degradation by bacteria, molds, and insects.