It’s fall so you know what that means.. fermenting season! This is my first time making kimchi. I used a recipe from the book Wild Fermentation by Sandor Katz, which my Mom gave me for my birthday last year.
We got a gigantic haul of fresh organic veggies in our harvest box this week from Chris at One Love Farm in Lillooet. The tastiest kohlrabi I’ve ever eaten, so crisp, juicy and sweet. Also small purple cabbage, colourful carrots, fresh juicy ginger, onions, garlic, green cabbage and colourful chard stems I had left over from the previous week.
optional cabbage totem for blessing the harvest kimchi:
METHOD
Submerge the cabbage, carrot, kohlrabi, and chard in a brine of 4 cups of sterile water with 4 Tablespoons sea salt. 2 to 4 hours or overnight.
Drain the salty brine from the vegetables and reserve brine. Taste the veg, if it is too salty you can rinse them with a bit of sterile water which is what I did. Make the spice paste:
Grate ginger with rasp grater. Cut onions and garlic fine, add 3 Tbsp Korean red chili powder or less depending on spice level taste. Roughly mash together in a mortar and pestle:
That was the only red pepper flakes available at T&T market, it was 13$ for 1kg, or 2.2 lbs which is a huge bag but that was all they had and I needed to make kimchi asap!
Blend the spice paste together with the pre soaked vegetables:
Sterilize your jars and wights with boiling water:
Add the vegetables to the mason jars and tamp them down, if needed add more brine until the vegetables are totally submerged. Put weights and lids on, suck air out and tighten, these lids allow CO2 to escape and keep oxygen out.
This is only the second day so I haven’t checked the taste yet, although you can taste everyday I would rather just leave it for now. After a week you are supposed to put it in the fridge.
Really excited about my first kimchi making experience!
clean eating for pure wellness 