Kimchi for Kicks : Boosts Your Health and Steps Up Flavor
Traditional Korean Fermented Specialty Boosts Your Health and Steps Up Flavor
What’s brightly crimson and delicious with a pungently strong smell that’ll knock your socks off? Kimchi, and it tastes so good! Not only will your taste buds develop a strong liking for its umami, salty properties, but your body will too.
Kimchi, a fermented food deeply beloved in its Korean homeland, is chock-full of probiotic lactic acid bacteria. With much research coming out these days on the connection between your digestive system, your mood and your overall health, it makes more sense than ever to nourish your gut. As Anne-Marie Bonneau of Zero Waste Chef puts it, “Fermentation is foolproof, delicious and so good for your gut.” Research on kimchi has shown the humble concoction to have antioxidant, cholesterol-lowering and immune-boosting benefits.
Kimchi has been made for at least 14 centuries, receiving a major makeover in the 18th century when chilies were introduced to South Korea via Japan and dried chili flakes started giving kimchi its now-trademark red color and heat. The crispy probiotic pickle was born out of necessity, as it was impossible to cultivate fresh vegetable crops during the harsh Korean winters. Napa cabbages were harvested in the fall, sliced in half longitudinally, liberally slathered in a mixture of chili flakes, green onions and salt, then left to ferment in large kimchi pots buried underground.
Getting your hands on kimchi in modern times is getting easier by the day as Americans embrace this Korean kitchen staple. San Jose’s H Mart, a behemoth of all foods Korean, sports an entire refrigerated wall of kimchi. Besides the ever-popular baechu kimchi, primarily featuring Napa cabbage, they’ve also got quite a few of the more than 300 other types of kimchi—radish kimchi, cucumber kimchi and mustard leaf kimchi among them. If you’re looking for a locally made variety, Hollister’s Wise Goat Organics crafts a kimchi with a hefty ginger kick available at farmers markets in the Silicon Valley area. Look to Farmhouse Culture for kimchi in bags at your local grocer.
Check out Edible Silicon Valley’s book review and local love for Farmhouse Culture craft masters, entrepreneurs and local authors, Kathryn Lukas and Shane Peterson here.
Kimchi photograph by Eric Wolfinger from the new book The Farmhouse Culture Guide to Fermenting.
Make Your Own Kimchi
If you want to try your hand at making kimchi you’ll need a few essential ingredients and kitchen tools.
To ferment kimchi, any glass jar will do. For added insurance and peace of mind, invest in some airlock jar lids. An airlock jar lid creates an anaerobic fermentation environment by allowing oxygen, excess carbon dioxide and other gases to exit while simultaneously preventing air, mold spores and wild yeast from entering the jar and spoiling your kimchi. You’ll also need a wide-mouthed stainless steel funnel to load your vegetables neatly into your jars and large bowls to mix everything up in.
Once you’ve assembled the necessary equipment, much of the work is the chopping.
Making your first batch of kimchi can induce all kinds of first-time jitters, even for those who know their way around a modern kitchen, as food creation generally does not involve fermentation. With a plethora of kimchi recipes online and heated divisions of opinion to sift through on precisely the best way to make kimchi, here are the crucial facts.
First, you need salt. Lots of salt. Salt protects the kimchi against bad bacterial growth.
Second, make sure you submerge your chopped vegetables entirely in the brine (a glass fermentation weight placed on top of the vegetables will help ensure everything is fully bathed in liquid).
Once the prepped vegetables are fully immersed in liquid, the pathogenic bacteria won’t have access to air, and thus won’t be able to survive the fermentation process. Anne-Marie goes one step further, placing a large uncut cabbage leaf underneath a glass fermentation weight to seal her kimchi off from air.
Tips from Local Kimchi Experts
Now, the way you arrive at the finished food product can vary widely. Here are some pointers from local experts.
Mary Risavi of Wise Goat Organics starts each batch of her locally sourced, vegan kimchi with 300–400 pounds of cabbage, then adds carrots, radishes, sesame seeds, seaweed, garlic, ginger, salt and the slightly smoky, coarsely ground red pepper known as gochugaru. She weighs her vegetables and salt separately, then throws it all together and mixes it up. She goes for a ratio of 2% salt by weight. The result is, as Mary puts it, “slightly less salty than the sea.”
Anne-Marie Bonneau of Zero Waste Chef uses a more traditional method, derived from her long-standing sauerkraut making experience. She chops up her vegetables, soaks them in brine, lets it all sit for at least an hour and then loads up her jars.
Eating Kimchi
Traditional Korean ways of consuming kimchi include in fried rice with smoky bacon, stewed in an anchovy-kelp stock with alliums (members of the onion family) and as a dumpling filling. You’ll see it as an accompaniment to Korean barbecue and as part of the wide array of banchan, or side dishes, an essential complement to the main dish served at nearly all Korean meals.
A simple meal of rice and kimchi serves as the Korean equivalent to a quick meal of a comforting grilled cheese sandwich. Korean cuisine even features different recipes for different stages of kimchi. Sour, pungent kimchi that’s been aging a while is perfect for pairing with pork atop sliced tofu or for making savory kimchi pancakes.
Mary recommends consuming kimchi uncooked, pointing out that “if you cook it you’ll lose the probiotic benefits.” Anne-Marie loves a crusty sourdough slice topped with ample amounts of hummus and kimchi. She also advocates sprinkling kimchi liberally on top of whatever you’re eating, condiment style.
Low in calories, high in nutrition, kimchi is a powerhouse of vitamins, antioxidants and probiotics. Taking the fresh local harvest and preserving it increases the bioavailability of the nutrients in the vegetables in every season and dish.
Regardless of whether you choose to make or buy kimchi, give the umami-packed fermented vegetables a try, and give your cuisine a wonderful cultured kick!
