Savoy Kimchi

Look closely at the photo above and you’ll notice bubbles. Tiny bubbles making their way up through the layers of ingredients as well as larger bubbles, turning cabbage leaves into buoyant rafts I have to weigh down with glass weights. This is kimchi, a rock star of the fermentation world. Along with kombucha, soy sauce and miso, kimchi is one of the most popular fermented foods to come from Asia and now claim its place in global food culture. But unlike the others, kimchi is also the easiest one to make at home. With no special equipment and no starter culture required, kimchi is by far the most accessible ferment to start with.

And what better to post as our 100th recipe here on The Farmer and Chef?

Savoy Kimchi Recipe - Makes 2kg

Ingredients:

• 2 Large savoy cabbages

• 3 Eating apples (I used Sunsets)

• 2 Carrots

• 1 Black radish

• 6 Cloves of garlic

• A thumb sized piece of ginger root

• 6 tbsp of dried chilli powder (I used Gochugaru)

• Sea salt* (amount may vary, please read method)

Equipment:

• 1x 3l Glass jar

• 1 Glass weight or smooth stone

• Large mixing bowl

Step 1.

Cut each cabbage into 8ths through the heart and remove the woody stem from the base. Keep the heart attached to the leaves to hold them in wedges and rinse them under cold running water to remove any bits of dirt.

Transfer the clean cabbage to a large mixing bowl and add 5-6 tbsp of sea salt. Massage the salt into the layers of cabbage, being rough enough to bruise the leaves. Once you’ve done all the wedges, cover the bowl and leave to rest for 1 hour.

Step 2.

After an hour the cabbage should have released a fair amount of water and gone soft. Discard the water and wash the cabbage in a bowl full of fresh cold water twice to remove excess salt.

Now prepare and add the remaining fruit and vegetables, cleaning and cutting them up as finely or chunky as you like (depending on how much crunch you want from your kimchi). Using a mandoline can help speed up this process if you aren’t comfortable with a knife. Once everything is prepped and in the bowl, mix it with as much chilli as you’d like, then tare your scales to the weight of your sterilised jar. Pack all the ingredients into the jar and add enough fresh cold water to cover them completely. Make a note of the total weight, then divide by 50 to find out 2%. This is how much salt we need to add.

Measure out the salt in a separate bowl and pour some of the water back out of the jar in with it. Stir until it’s dissolved, then tip it back into the kimchi jar.

Step 3.

Now we need to make sure the kimchi is primed for ferment. The salt has made the water inhospitable to a lot of unwanted microbes, but any ingredients that float above the surface are still vulnerable to spoilage. Using either a glass weight or smooth stone (both sterilised with boiling water), carefully weigh down the ingredients so that they’re tucked safely below the surface.

Fasten a lid on top and leave the kimchi out of direct sunlight at room temperature for 7 days. After 2 days you should notice pressure building inside the jar, this is a sign of fermentation and will require ‘burping’, releasing the lid to let the carbon dioxide out each day. After the seventh day, begin to taste the kimchi to gadge how acidic and funky it’s become. Somewhere between 7-14 days you’ll hit the sweet spot (based on personal preference), at this point pack it into airtight containers and refrigerate it to slow the microbial activity. This won’t pause the fermentation completely, but will keep the flavour around your prefered taste for a longer period of time. If you’d like to completely halt fermentation you’ll need to either freeze or dehydrate the kimchi. (Dehydration takes 10-15 hours at 140C (300f). Once dehydrated, store it in an airtight container at room temperature for a year and treat it as a crispy/chewy snack or like seaweed in cooking and stocks.

Warning:

When making fermented food you run the risk of food poisoning. To limit the risk, make sure you sterilize all equipment used with boiling water after cleaning with hot soapy water. If your ferment isn’t active after 3 days then add 100ml of vinegar (any kind) per litre of water. This will lower the pH and protect against dangerous microbes that may be taking over, but this step is a last resort.

Ultimately, trust your nose. Ferments smell strong, funky, sour, cheesy and alcoholic. As you become familiar with these smells you learn to quickly identify something going wrong. If you don’t trust a smell or spot mould blooming on the surface then discard and start again.