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My father was stationed in Korea once upon a time and brought home a taste for Kimchi / Kim Chee.
My mother did make it a few times but from her description it sounded very complicated, and something no one should try without first getting a certification in Kim Chee Preparedness.
So when I no longer lived close to an Asian Market with gallon jars of it for a decent price, I learned either to do without, or pay $5 for a tiny little jar that would last me a week if I resisted the urge to eat it daily.
Then I got the book "Wild Fermentation" by Sandor Ellix Katz, and have been making delicious Kimchi easily, ever since.
My mother did make it a few times but from her description it sounded very complicated, and something no one should try without first getting a certification in Kim Chee Preparedness.
So when I no longer lived close to an Asian Market with gallon jars of it for a decent price, I learned either to do without, or pay $5 for a tiny little jar that would last me a week if I resisted the urge to eat it daily.
Then I got the book "Wild Fermentation" by Sandor Ellix Katz, and have been making delicious Kimchi easily, ever since.
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Signing UpStep 1Assemble tools and ingredients
At its most basic, kimchee is chinese cabbage (can use napa, pac choi, or any chinese cabbage) fermented with garlic, pepper, salt, and ginger. Other ingredients such as daikon (or other radish), carrot, scallion / green onion or other onion, fish (in the form of dried crumbled fish, fish broth or fish sauce, or Hondashi fish broth powder), and even seaweed, are commonly used depending on preference.
Here I show Kosher Salt, scallions, daikon, fresh ginger, hondashi powder, dried pepper flakes specifically for making kimchee, fresh garlic, carrot, and a very large head of pac choi /bok choy.
You will also need a sharp knife, a large nonreactive mixing bowl, a smaller nonreactive mixing bowl, and glass or stoneware jars or crocks to hold the finished product.
You will need anywhere from several hours, to overnight, to soak the fresh chopped veggies in salt solution, and then anywhere from 5 days to 2 weeks to ferment your kimchee depending on how warm the room is, how much salt to vegetables, and whether you had leftover kimchee "juice" to jump-start the fermentation with.
For those who want measured quantities either to follow, or to get a ballpark idea of what the proportions are:
For roughly two quart jars:
2 lbs chinese cabbage
1 whole daikon radish or several red radishes
1 to 2 carrots
onions and/or leeks, bunch of scallions, or shallots... as many or few as you like.
6-8 cloves of garlic, or as many as you like... your love of garlic is the only limiting factor
5-6 tablespoons of grated ginger, or grate up a 4 inch piece... again, more to taste if you like it especially
Seaweed if you like, but I didn't use it in this recipe
3 tsp. hondashi japanese fish broth powder ( or a handful of dried bonito, crumbled)
Brine will be 4 cups of water to 4 tablespoons of salt. If this isn't enough to cover the fresh veggies, then double the brine recipe.
Here I show Kosher Salt, scallions, daikon, fresh ginger, hondashi powder, dried pepper flakes specifically for making kimchee, fresh garlic, carrot, and a very large head of pac choi /bok choy.
You will also need a sharp knife, a large nonreactive mixing bowl, a smaller nonreactive mixing bowl, and glass or stoneware jars or crocks to hold the finished product.
You will need anywhere from several hours, to overnight, to soak the fresh chopped veggies in salt solution, and then anywhere from 5 days to 2 weeks to ferment your kimchee depending on how warm the room is, how much salt to vegetables, and whether you had leftover kimchee "juice" to jump-start the fermentation with.
For those who want measured quantities either to follow, or to get a ballpark idea of what the proportions are:
For roughly two quart jars:
2 lbs chinese cabbage
1 whole daikon radish or several red radishes
1 to 2 carrots
onions and/or leeks, bunch of scallions, or shallots... as many or few as you like.
6-8 cloves of garlic, or as many as you like... your love of garlic is the only limiting factor
5-6 tablespoons of grated ginger, or grate up a 4 inch piece... again, more to taste if you like it especially
Seaweed if you like, but I didn't use it in this recipe
3 tsp. hondashi japanese fish broth powder ( or a handful of dried bonito, crumbled)
Brine will be 4 cups of water to 4 tablespoons of salt. If this isn't enough to cover the fresh veggies, then double the brine recipe.
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I think I will try this without any of the "fish" sorts of things---husband loves things like this and our "local" Asian Markets are 1 1/2 hour drive away and the one and only time I got him "kimchee" packed in the nicest little ceramic jar the stuff smelled SO BAD the dog ran off. Prob just from some air leak or who knows but nothing like what he has had elsewhere and not a good sour smell--def a rotten eeewy smell. The crock was nice so I kept that tho!
I wish I knew some one who could take me for a "Guided Tour" of the Asian MArkets and tell me what is IN those packages! The people who run the one we have gone to might speak English--or might not!--and are not that friendly and when ever I have asked a Asian person shopping a question they just look at me like I have three heads. Sigh.
Maybe they know I have a secret wish to liberate the poor doomed turtles swimming in their bucket.
Thanks for de-mystifying this process tho! Oh--one way to keep the level of the liquid over anything pickling is to use a clean china plate weighted down with either a very clean rock; a glass jar filled with water on top of the plate; or (I have not used this) a plastic zip bag with water in it. This allows you to see what is happening on top without messing around with the product. Cover the whole affair with a cloth tied around the side or weighted down with small weights sewn on the edge to keep out dust and bugs and critters. My great great grandmothers trick for her famous pickles. And yep I was lucky enuf to actually live with great great grand ma when I was a kiddie and remember the pickles!
BTW...I was reading some of the posts, I make my fermented vegetables in sealed quart jars and keep my house between 70-72 degrees. I open the jars every day to release the gas and I let them ferment for 7 days...the only drawback is that many times the jars leak so I keep my jars in a cardboard box that I discard after they are done fermenting.
thanks!!!
A Korean lady told me that refrigerators are actually too warm to keep kimchi in for very long, and that I shouldn't make so much at a time that we can't use it up in a couple of weeks, because trying to keep it for months in a standard refrigerator won't work. 33-34 degrees F is much better than 39 or 40 degrees F. On the other hand, making just enough for a few days, you can leave it on the counter. You just can't expect to keep it for too long. Souring can be quite good especially for adding to soups, but once it goes beyond sour, into sweet and alcohol-smell, that is spoiled. So if it sours, hurry and make soup!
You should be able to add a little less or more salt to taste. Just know that less salt will mean you need to use it up quicker.
I was so excited about making kimchee, I promised most of the first batch out to three young people at my church. Two have Korean ancestry and one, Japanese.
Blessings!
the seaweed I buy is dried, so I usually just break it into bits or cut it if it's a bit leathery. It's wonderful in kimchi, and it hardly matters which type. Just whatever type you enjoy eating.
I used to use Wakame primarily, sometimes some kombu too. You can use any. Wakame I break into "twigs" dry, and in it goes.
These days I prefer to buy a year's supply of local Maine seaweed at a time, from http://www.theseaweedman.com/ or else https://www.seaveg.com/shop/
Both are good places to buy from, for anyone, especially if you live closer to Maine than to Japan, China, or Korea.
The local seaweed does taste a bit different or have a different texture, but it's good.
Thanks for the kudos though!
Unfortunately, the large batch seems to be "stuck". It's been in 70F temps for over 48 hours, and not a single bubble!
Any tips?
Or, if there is enough salt to really slow things down, but not enough to halt them entirely, it might just take a bit.
Alternatively, I do believe a really large batch may take longer to get started.
I would give it a few more days and before figuring something is wrong, but tasting some each day should tell you what changes are taking place.
Keep us posted on the progress, because maybe I too will have a new use for the beer brewing equipment in the basement, if this works out well!
I think you're right about the large batch, and perhaps I should just give it a bit of time. apparently, some sources say fermentation won't start for up to a week!
The fermentation lock is supposed to stop molds from growing. Once the kimchi starts to "work", the gasses are trapped in the bucket, and the whole thing becomes anaerobic... so, no goo!
On MANY people's recommendations (here and elsewhere) I bought a copy of Sandor's book. Kindle is handy when you wish to read. ;)
Thanks so much for your quick reply. I'll report back w/ info on success, or failure. (failures are such useful learning tools!)
Tedinski
I opened up the kimchi expecting the worst -- horrible smells & rotting veggies! Imagine my surprise when it smelled quite good, and looks about the same as when I put it all in the bucket. Very odd!
The house changes temperatures a fair bit because I heat with wood, but its never dropped below 60, and usually (80%of the time) it's around 70 to 75.
Is there such a thing as inorganic non-fermentable cabbage? Perhaps I've found a supplier of everlasting, never-spoiling foodstuffs! :D
So, I ask again... has anyone on this forum run into this before? It's really NOT too salty, and the bucket was washed out with non-chlorinated water (my water is supplied by a spring... very clean and NO chemicals).
Is there something I can add to help start the ferment? Perhaps some whey? I've read on other forums that whey is great for getting kimchi started, but then again I've read that you should "never use whey" because it messes up the flavors.
Totally confuddled,
Tedinski
It has to be warm not cold in the room or the fermentation process will take weeks. 70 degrees or better. DO NOT SEAL IT IN A JAR; it will explode from the pressure. This is why you see massive Kim-Chee production in the spring and summer in Korea.
Also when you "Brine" the cabbage you will see an incredible shrinking of it.
Using the "soup" mix for your fish sauce adds allot more salt to the Kim-chee.
At any Asian Market Chinese ask for fish sauce in a bottle. Be careful about using too much or if will be very "fishy"..
There also should be plenty "Korean" markets in any city and you can get Kim-Chee powder by the pound.
If you use allot of salt the Kim-chee will become rubbery quickly; you can use less for a more crunchy texture and less salt.
Kim-chee will change taste; it will become "sour"; it isn't spoiled just really sour. You them can use it as 'Kim-Chee Chi-gae" kim-Chee soup.
Put it into a post boil it; add goodies like rice cake. "You have to soak it first and also add a meat of you want or Mandoo to it.
Remember this; you can not sneak eat this stuff. When you open the reefer the whole neighbor hood will know and if you are going to work same thing. We here have a saying called - KimChee Breath. If you are going on a date; DON'T EAT IT, unless she has too LoL...
Thanks
I have just been told about this amazing web site from a work colleague who is married to a Korean lady..........told him I missed kimchi (having lived in Korea for under a year in 1988!) & he told me I could make it myself, and then gave me the link to you guys!
Okay so I am going to try it, hope that I can get all the ingredients as I live in St.Albans Uk!
Fingers crossed, and I will keep you posted.
Melo
Always glad to share and pass on the gift that was first shared freely with me, by someone else. How did your batch come out?
I'm glad that my Instructable was helpful!
And it's very helpful to me, to get feedback and encouragement from you!
I also love kimchee soup, as do my kids.
But I'm not saying that large amounts aren't bad for you. It's still a sodium salt of glutamic acid, and these salts among many salts are found to indirectly cause obesity (but I think there's obvious social reasons behind this). Glutamic acid though, is found in most cheeses, soy sauce, grape juice, peas, tomatoes, etc.
Anyway, I don't think a little ajinomoto or hondashi is going to hurt ya.
Dr. Russell L. Blaylock -- Excitotoxins [MSG, Aspartame]
Dr. Blaylock on Fluoride, Aspartame, MSG and Vaccinations (1)
Dr. Russell Blaylock M.D. is a retired neurosurgeon and author whose trailblazing research has tirelessly documented the fact that there is an epidemic of neurological disorders in the western world which are directly connected to toxins in our environment, and how this relates to the larger global eugenics program behind population reduction. In this fascinating interview, Blaylock reveals how depopulation programs forged by the Rockefeller foundation in association with the Nazis were the basis of modern day incarnations of eugenics like fluoride poisoning and vaccinations.
Disillusionment is a positive thing!