What is Kimchi?

Kimchi is a traditional fermented food similar to sauerkraut. This probiotic packed slightly spicy condiment/ side-dish originated in Korea in the 13th century.1
The main ingredients in traditional kimchi are napa cabbage, a mixture of vegetables like Daikon radish and carrots, aromatics like garlic, ginger, and onion, fish sauce/paste or dried small fish, seaweed, and a special type of chili flakes called gochugaru.

Gochugaru gives kimchi it's bright red color and pleasant heat. Gochugaru is made from red chillies that have been dried and flaked but have the seeds removed.

running low on gochugaru

Why should I eat Kimchi?

Kimchi is delicious and adds to any savory meal. I like putting it on scrambled eggs, burritos, pizza, rice dishes, chicken... All the foods! It makes me feel like a fusion chef when I combine foods from different cultures, like kimchi and tortilla chips.

But really, kimchi is also a great way to support your gut health. As I said in this post, gut health is critical to over all health.

Fresh vegetables as well as fruits have lactic acid producing bacteria on their surfaces. These bacteria feed on the starches and sugars in the vegetables to produce lactic acid, which is a natural preservative and promotes the environment in which lactic acid bacteria thrives. The lactic acid bacteria, or LAB for short, proliferate in this environment, multiply rapidly, and fill our food with what are known as probiotics or beneficial bacteria. The addition of salt to fermented foods protects the vegetables from spoiling due to bad bacteria while the lactic acid bacteria gets established.

Some of the types of beneficial bacteria in kimchi are:
-Leuconostoc(Le.) species Le. mesenteroides, Le. kimchii, Le. citreum, Le. gasicomitatum, and Le. gelidum...
-Lactobacillus(Lb.) species Lb. brevis, Lb. curvatus, Lb. plantarum, and Lb. sakei...
-Lactococcus lactis
-Pediococcus pentosaceus
-Weissella confusa
-Weissella kimchii
-Weissella koreensis2

How Can I Make Kimchi?

There are many varieties of kimchi, and I've never been able to make the same thing twice.
To me fermentation is science as well as art. I learned to make kimchi from a neighbor a few years ago and have adapted it to suit my preference and ingredients on hand. Horseradish is not a traditional addition but I'm using it today. The following recipe is something I came up with and fills a two liter jar.

day one fresh cabbage, day two soaked cabbage, all ingredients mixed into cabbage

Ingredients and Method

• Half a large napa cabbage
• 2Tbsp salt
• 4 to 6 cups water
• 1 inch chunk of horseradish (or a bulb of garlic)
• 2 large onions
• 2 to 4 Tbsp Gochugaru chili flakes
• 1 tsp ginger powder (fresh is even better)
• 2 tbsp seaweed flakes (I'm using kombu)
• 1 tsp black peppercorns
• 1/4 cup fish sauce (check label for no preservatives other than salt)

Day One

• Cut the napa cabbage into strips and chunks. I like my pieces fairly large but cut to your preferance.
• Combine the chopped cabbage and salt in a big bowl, and add enough water to submerge all the cabbage. Let this sit 12 or more hours to get the fermentation going.

Day Two

• Drain all but about a cup of the soaking water. Save the soaking water in case you need to add a little back later.
• Chop the onion and horseradish and/or garlic. I use my food processer cause it's so easy.
• Add all the seasonings and the chopped things to the cabbage and combine well.
• Pack tightly into a jar. If there aren't enough juices so that everything is submerged add a little more of the reserved soaking water, just enough so that all the solids are covered. Keeping everything submerged prevents mold growth.
• Now put a lid on the jar, set it in a cool place and wait! I like to wait about 3 weeks but I've heard people say their kimchi was ready after a couple days. You can taste it at various stages and see if you like it. In my opinion the flavor gets better as it ages, and the probiotic count goes up. Always use a very clean utensil to sample, you don't want to introduce new bacteria that might cause spoilage.

chopped horseradish and peppercorns, chopped onions, easy peasy

local seaweed! Add that goodness

Keep it in the fridge or cold cellar after it has fermented to your liking. Before refrigeration, kimchi was kept underground to keep cool.3

I hope this information finds you well and inspires you to give some home fermentation a try.

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