trace of alcohol in bread?

[Guest guest]

Hey all,

I stumbled across this why surfing the web. It says that there are

trace amounts of alcohol in bread and OJ. Do you think this is true?

And if it is, then wouldn't it be the same thing to have a

non-alcoholic beer or fre-wine as having a piece of bread or a glass

of OJ?

*****

The term " non-alcoholic beer " is actually a misnomer. There are trace

amounts of alcohol in non-alcoholic beer. Then again, you can also

find trace amounts of alcohol in orange juice and bread, as a result

of the fermentation process. Commercial definitions of non-alcoholic

beer (otherwise known as " malted beverage " ) vary between countries,

but it usually contains a maximum of 0.1% to 0.5% alcohol.

Non-alcoholic beer, or " near beer, " dates coincidentally enough to the

advent of Prohibition in 1919. President initially tried to

reduce the alcohol percentage of beer to around 2.5%, but the

Temperance Society would have none of it. In a bizarre twist,

non-alcoholic beer was often artificially " spiked " with grain alcohol

and sold illegally.

Non-alcoholic beer is brewed as normal beer, but during the finishing

stages of the brewing process the alcohol is removed by vacuum

evaporation. This process takes advantage of the different boiling

points of water and alcohol. As this feature article by

Naleszkiewicz at Brew Your Own magazine explains, since alcohol has a

very low boiling point, it's relatively easy to evaporate most of the

alcohol in a batch of home brew by simply heating it in an oven after

it ferments. You can also try to shorten the fermenting process, but

that tends to take more flavor away.

The wonderful resource Wikipedia notes that while most non-alcoholic

beers are lagers, there are also some non-alcoholic ales and bitters.

Another site says: tiny to small amounts of alcohol are often to be

found in green leafy vegetables, sprouts, and fruit

·almost all natural traditional fermented foods, including vinegar,

kim chee, yogurt, kefir, sourdough bread, kombucha, sauerkraut, and

hundreds of other naturally fermented foods, will usually contain

small amounts of alcohol. One study by a kefir trade group found that

kefir usually contains from 0.06 to 3.0% alcohol, and other references

show that yogurt is not far behind. Alcohol has been found in baked

sourdough bread and similar products as well, including " normal "

yeasted breads.

·alcohol can often be found in small concentrations in honey,

molasses, and barley malt syrup, especially batches which are higher

in water content

·almost all sprouted grains, ripe fruits, fresh fruit juices, and

unfermented apple cider contain small to moderate amounts of alcohol;

this is even true of orange juice

*****

Just wondering what you all think? Doesn't mean I'm running out for a

non-alcoholic beer or anything, but now it makes me think twice about

OJ and bread, apple juice and yogurts.

Sandy

Fairfield, California