Single correct option
Directions: A sentence has been removed from the paragraph below. From the four options, choose the sentence that fits most logically and coherently into the position marked [___].
Fermentation was, for most of human history, a preservation technique born of necessity rather than taste — a way to keep vegetables, milk and grain edible through seasons when fresh food was unavailable. [___] Only later, once refrigeration made preservation largely optional, did fermentation persist for a different reason: the distinctive sour, complex flavours it produces, which no amount of refrigeration can replicate.
Fermentation was, for most of human history, a preservation technique born of necessity rather than taste — a way to keep vegetables, milk and grain edible through seasons when fresh food was unavailable. [___] Only later, once refrigeration made preservation largely optional, did fermentation persist for a different reason: the distinctive sour, complex flavours it produces, which no amount of refrigeration can replicate.
- A. The specific microorganisms responsible for fermentation vary widely by region, climate and the particular food being preserved.
- B. It is telling that fermentation techniques appear independently across nearly every pre-refrigeration culture, from Korean kimchi to German sauerkraut to Ethiopian injera.
- C. Refrigeration technology was not widely available to households until the twentieth century in most parts of the world.
- D. Many fermented foods are now marketed as health foods owing to their probiotic content.
Show answer and solution
Answer: (B) It is telling that fermentation techniques appear independently across nearly every pre-refrigeration culture, from Korean kimchi to German sauerkraut to Ethiopian injera.
The blank sits between a claim that fermentation was born of preservation necessity and a later point about flavour becoming the reason for its persistence. Option B directly supports the preceding claim with evidence — fermentation's independent, widespread emergence across pre-refrigeration cultures — before the paragraph pivots to flavour. The other options either introduce a tangent (A, D) or restate context without advancing the logical link (C).
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