Homemade fermented kimchi recipe

[Saviolo]

So, this week's recipe is another fermented item, we made our own kimchi from bok choi! It's quite a simple recipe, and doesn't require any cooking, just some chopping and packing the result into a jar. We made ours with our homemade fermented hot pepper relish to inoculate it and kickstart the fermentation. As with all fermented products, you do need a certain level of salt in the final product to encourage fermentation while discouraging the growth of things you don't want!

This turned out very spicy, but you can cut down on the spice, of course. You can also adjust the levels of the onion, garlic, and ginger based on your preferred flavour profile. This recipe is not vegetarian, because fish sauce is not vegetarian, nor is oyster sauce. There are vegetarian replacements for both of these items that use mushroom for flavouring.

And thanks for 1000 subscribers!!

[FM123]

1. I love kimchi!

[no_hypocrisy]

2. How long does Kimchi last before it goes bad?

[Saviolo]

3. It's tricky because this is living food.

This kimchi is actively fermenting, so the longer you have it, the more it will change. New flavours will emerge, you'll start getting some funky and sour fermented flavours and aromas as well. If you have your salt balance right, it should take rather a long time for it to go bad, but again that sort of depends on personal taste. Plenty of people aren't all that fond of the funkier aspects of fermentation, just like some people really don't like strong blue cheese.

If you see a white film developing on your kimchi, that just means yeast, and is not dangerous or bad. Skim it off or stir it in, it's all a part of the fermenting process. If you see little colonies of green mould, then it's time to get rid of it.