The principle of making kimchi is to blend secondary materials(fruits or cereals, etc.), spices, seasonings and fermented fish (optional) with major raw materials (cabbage, radish, or cucumber, etc.); and the blended materials are then subjected to lactic acid fermentation.
How to make normal kimchi products
Appropriate cultivars of Chinese cabbage, with light-green colored soft leaves and compact structure with no defects, are required for production of kimchi.
Typical manufacturing processes for making cabbage kimchi are shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Typical manufacturing processes for making cabbage kimchi
After removing outer leaves and roots from the cabbage, it is cut into proper size, brined in salt solution (8～15%) for 2～7 hours to obtain 2.0～4.0% (w/w) salt content in cabbages, rinsed several times with fresh water and drained to remove extra water by centrifugation or by standing still. A seasoning mixture for kimchi, of which a recipe varies slightly depending on manufacturers but is usually composed of sliced oriental radish, chopped garlic, powdered red pepper, sliced green onion, fermented seafoods, chopped ginger, salt and sugar, is prepared separately. Typical ingredients for kimchi are shown in Table 2.
The seasoning mixtures is evenly blended with pretreated cabbages. This blend can be packed into proper containers before or after fermentation. During kimchi fermentation at low temperature(from 0℃ to room temperature) lactic acid bacteria from nature prosper and dominate other microorganism by producing lactic acid. As a result of fermentation, properly fermented kimchi contains lots of lactic acid bacteria and lactic acid as yogurt.
And so, during storage and transportation of kimchi, it is recommend that the temperature be kept at -3℃ to 4℃.
Table 2. Typical ingredients for kimchi
Components %
Oriental cabbage 85.6
Sliced oriental radish 2.8
Chopped garlic 1.4
Powdered red pepper 2.9
Sliced green onion 1.5
Fermented seafoods 1.8
Chopped ginger 0.7
Salt 2.5
Sugar 0.8
Total 100
The followings are the most widely used methods to prepare the selected types of kimchi.
(1) Whole-Cabbage kimchi (Tongbaechu kimchi)
Whole-cabbage kimchi is the most popular and traditional kimchi in Korea. It is one of the winter kimchi, prepared in a large quantity in November for winter. However this trend is gradually disappearing due to year-round production of whole cabbage with good quality. Whole-cabbage kimchi can be prepared in small quantities throughout the year.
Whole Cabbage → Trimming → Vertical Cutting → Salting → Washing → Draining
→ Stuffing with Mixture of Other Ingredients → Fermentation → Whole-Cabbage kimchi
< Preparation procedure for whole-cabbage kimchi >
Discolored outer leaves and the root of mature whole cabbage are removed. With a knife inserted through the bottom of the cabbage head, the entire vegetable is cut lengthwise. The cabbage sections are soaked in 8～15% brine for 2～7 hours until softened, rinsed in cold water, and then drained. Radish strips (10% of cabbage quantity) and spices including green onion strips (0.6%), crushed garlic (1.4%), crushed ginger (0.6%), hot red pepper powder (2.7%), and seasonings are blended together. The blended stuffing materials are packed between the layers of leaves, and the stuffed cabbage are tightly stacked in a jar. The amount of salt to be added controls the rate of fermentation, and kimchi to be consumed during the winter has less salt than those prepared during the spring. Maintaining salt concentration at 3% results in optimum fermentation. The rate of fermentation is also affected by temperature.
(2) Wrapped-up kimchi (Bossam kimchi)
Wrapped-up kimchi is similar to whole-cabbage kimchi; the difference is that a variety of seafoods(shrimp, oyster, octopus, yellow corvina, etc.), fruits(pear and jujube), and nuts(pine nut and chestnut) are wrapped together in cabbage leaves. Vegetables such as Korean watercress, Indian mustard leaves, and green onion give aromatic flavors to the kimchi; the fresh oyster and octopus add exquisite flavors to vegetables, and pickled shrimp and yellow corvina add a subtle depth to the kimchi. This is simply delicious and also very nutritious, but it is not very popular because of the laborious work required to prepare it.
Salted and Rinsed Remove Leafy Parts Cut Cabbage Stem
Cabbage Head → from Cabbage for → Radish, Pear, and →
Wrapping Octopus to 4 cm
Mix Minor Ingredients Spread 2-3 Softened Fill It with
with Spices → Cabbage Leaves in → Stuffing →
a Mid-size Bowl
Add Garnishing Securely Wrap the Stack Wrapped
Ingredients on Top → Stuffing with Leaves → kimchi in a jar →
Dilute Fermented Fish Juice
and Pour over the kimchi
< Preparation procedure for wrapped-up kimchi >
(3) Diced-Radish kimchi (Kaktugi)
Diced-radish kimchi is a type of winter kimchi. Radish is the main material, and red pepper, garlic, ginger, green onion, salt-fermented shrimp, etc., are added to make diced-radish kimchi. Whole radish is washed, trimmed, and cut into dices. Radish dices are mixed with the blend of minor materials and spices, and then packed in a jar for the fermentation.
(4) Whole-Radish kimchi (Tongchimi)
Whole-radish kimchi is a traditional juicy winter kimchi prepared with firm radishes, Indian mustard leaves, and pungent green peppers. Small and firm radishes are trimmed, cleaned, and stacked in a jar. Other materials, such as green pepper, Indian mustard leaves, and green thread onion are added to the radishes after salting and rinsing. Brine is poured over the vegetables in the jar, sufficiently to cover them.
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