“It’s rotten cabbage.” My introduction to kimchi by a friend couldn’t have turned me off any more. I like cabbage, for the most part, but rotten cabbage? I wasn’t so sure about that. “It’s like sauerkraut,” another friend told me, I still wasn’t convinced. Well, as it turns out, kimchi isn’t really like either of those things, so in order to dispel the myths of kimchi, here is the truth.
I was hesitant the first time I tried it. I picked up a piece of leafy cabbage, turned the colour of a sunset by chili powder, and put it in my mouth. My first reaction was to spit it out, but you can’t be rude like that when surrounded by a table full of Koreans. They all looked like children on Christmas morning, waiting to see my reaction. I managed to chew it and get it down. I smiled, and said, “it’s not that bad,” even though I didn’t like it at all. It was pungent, with a strong odour, and a little too spicy for my liking. But not all kimchi is made alike, or so I’ve learned since my introduction to it.
Kimchi is, technically, rotten cabbage, as my friend so eloquently put it. But it is also much more than that. The Kimchi Field Museum, in Seoul, has documented 187 varieties, and different recipes abound. According to Korea Agro-Fisheries Trade Corp., the main ingredients of kimchi are Chinese cabbage, sliced radish, parsley, mustard leaf, green onion, garlic, ginger, salted fish juice, rough salt, powered red pepper, and seaweed. Some recipes call for pyogo mushroom, raw oyster, raw shrimp, or fish. After mixing all of the ingredients together, the kimchi is put in a ‘kimchi jar’ (large earthenware jars), and then it is buried – about a foot underground, until it’s time to eat it. The length of time kimchi is fermented varies depending on the recipe, but it can be between a week and years. The longer it ferments, the stronger the flavour.
Kimchi has been around since around the 7th century. Koreans needed a way to ensure vegetables were readily available during the winter months, and so kimchi was born. Early variants did not have the all-important chili peppers – they were only introduced to the peninsula in the 16th century, by Portuguese traders. Even then, there are no early recipes showing the use of chili pepper in kimchi, it is thought they only became a part of the mix in the 18th century. Chinese cabbage is also a ‘new’ addition to the Korean national dish. It has only been used since the 19th century, before that it was made with indigenous vegetables like radish, cucumber, and perilla leaves.
Kimchi has been called on of the healthiest foods on earth. One of the reasons for this is the lactic acid bacteria that is formed during fermentation. This bacteria is partially what gives kimchi its distinctive sour flavour, but also prevents other bacteria from growing. It also helps relieve intestinal disorders and can be a major part in preventing obesity, diabetes, and intestinal cancer. It is low in fat, high in fiber, and full of many different vitamins – a little kimchi a day, will keep the doctor away. On the flipside, it has been speculated that kimchi can also be a cause of gastric cancer. In 2005, Korean researchers discovered a 50% higher risk of stomach cancer among ‘heavy’ consumers of kimchi. But, you would have to eat around 70 pounds of it a year for your entire life for this to be a possibility, so eat up!
Kimchi is an acquired taste – I’m proof of that. I didn’t like it the first time I ate it, and now I have it with almost every meal. I’ve become a wiz at making kimchi-fried rice, and have it a couple of times a week now. You can also make kimchijeon – Korean pancakes with kimchi – kimchi soup, kimchi noodles, kimchi and curry on rice, kimchi pizza, heck, you can make just about anything with kimchi, and if you have a dish that doesn’t need any, it’s always a great side-dish.
Questions? Comments? Let me know.
