Chemistry+of+Life+Unit

= What is yeast? =

**What is baker's yeast? Qwiki Video**
Facts about Yeast = =
 * Used in ancient Egypt – images are found in ancient hieroglyphics


 * Uses
 * ==Fermentation – in beer and wine, sugar concerted to alcohol==
 * Baking – used to make the dough rise


 * Yeast is a tiny form of **fungi** scientists refer to as “microorganisms”.


 * They are egg-shaped cells that can only be seen with a **microscope**.


 * It takes 20,000,000,000 (twenty billion or 2.0 X 1010) yeast cells to weigh one gram or 1/28 of an ounce.

“sugar eating fungus”
 * scientific name – Saccharomyces cerevisiae


 * Yeast cells **digest food** to obtain **energy for growth.**