Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which in Latin means “sugar fungus,” has been utilized by humans for thousands of years. It is believed that it was first discovered on the skins of grapes. S. cerevisiae is a budding or brewing yeast, and has been put to use since antiquity to make dough rise and to provide ethanol in alcoholic beverages. One of the most elemental purposes of brewers yeast was that it transformed the way bread was made in ancient times. Once, all bread was unleavened, and could often have a hard, dry texture. One can only imagine the reaction when yeast was accidentally added to the bread mixture an estimated 5,000 years ago in Egypt, yielding a chewy, flavorful diet staple. (1) Yeast remains a key component in baking to this day. The pioneering research of Louis Pasteur in the 1860s included a method of enabling yeast to be commercially produced as an ingredient for baking and in the processing of alcoholic beverages.