A method for fermenting stalks of the Poaceae family is provided. This includes sugarcane sorghum and maize stalks. This method compresses stalks between rollers to between 20% and 90% of their diameter while the stalks are submerged in an aqueous reagent solution. This fractures the stalks in the axial direction without significant loss of juice while simultaneously pulling the reagent solution into the resulting network of cracks in the parenchyma tissue. In some variants the aqueous reagent solution contains fermentation organisms the sugars diffuse from the parenchyma cells come into contact with the fermentation organisms located in the cracks in the stalks and produce ethanol and lactic acid within the stalks. In some variants combinations of enzymes acids and Fenton reagent in the aqueous reagent solution diffuse into and degrade the lignocellulosic matrix in the stalks.
