Fermentation station

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Traditionally, kimchi is a pickled vegetable buried in a clay vessel underground to ferment over the winter.  It’s classically Korean, and Americans primarily see kimchi take the form of cabbage - good, hot, pickled cabbage.  I’ve been making cabbage kimchi for years, although it is not the standard fermented variety.  Up until recently, I was a little afraid of home fermenting experiments.  With the success of the sauerkraut trial, though, I’m over it.

And so my real kimchi experiment begins!

A bunch of small Daikon radishes came in this past week’s CSA share.  What better way to use the Daikon than to make them into kimchi?

First things first: I had to find Korean ground chile paste.  A trip to the H-mart in Upper Darby provided a massive wealth of choices.  I cannot tell you what brand I purchased because the brand name is in Korean.  However, I snuck a taste at home and it was the perfect choice.  This kimchi is going to be fabulous!  I picked up a ginger root, as well, and the project was off to a great start!

So here’s the recipe:

1 head garlic (cloves separated and peeled)
2 pcs. of ginger root (1-inch)
2 Tbsp. Korean ground chile
2 Tbsp. Salt
2 large Daikons (peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes) - or in my case, one bunch of small Daikons
1 bunch of Swiss chard (chopped into 1-inch pieces)
Sugar

Whirl the ginger, ground chile, salt and garlic (from my garden) in a food processor until it’s minced.  Place the chile mixture and Daikon radish (from the CSA share) in a large ziploc and mix together.  Really mush the chile mixture into the Daikon - make sure it’s absolutely covered with chile mixture.  Grab a couple of freshly sterilized canning jars (wide mouth pint jars work best for this) and load the Daikon in until the jars are about a quarter full.  Layer in some swiss chard (from the CSA share) and sprinkle a bit of sugar on top of the chard.  Layer in more Daikon until the jars are half full.  Layer in more swiss chard and sugar.  Layer in more Daikon until the jars are 3/4 full, and top with more swiss chard and sugar.  Wipe the threads of the jar to remove any bits of stuff that fell over the jar, and screw the lids on really tight.

Burying your jars underground for the Winter is not necessary for fermentation, I’m happy to say!  In fact, you need only find a dark, cool space and place your jars in there for a few days.  The kimchi should ferment within three to four days.  My recipe says not to disturb the jars while they’re fermenting, and you’ll know they’re fermenting because water will rise from the vegetables.  I made my kimchi last night and I can already see the fermentation process in action.

When the kimchi is done fermenting, refrigerate the jars.  It should last for about a month in the fridge.  I have three pints and a half pint of kimchi currently fermenting.  I love kimchi, but enough to eat four jars of it in a month?  Probably not.  My plan is to keep two jars, give one jar away to a friend, and put one jar through a water bath.  I really want to see if the texture of the Daikon is negatively affected by the water bath.  Certainly canning pickles for long-term storage is a common practice, so why not kimchi?