Kimchi 101: Types, Fermentation, Cooking and Making It Yourself

In almost every Korean refrigerator there is a jar of kimchi, and at almost every Korean meal there is a small dish of it on the table. Kimchi is a side dish, flavour enhancer and leftover saver all at once: young and fresh next to a bowl of white rice, sour and deep in flavour in a bubbling stew on a cold evening. Once you get used to it, you will immediately miss it with a plate of fried rice. Here you can read what kimchi is, what types there are, why that old, sour jar is just the tastiest to cook with and how you can make it yourself or choose it, online or at our toko in Amsterdam. For the rest of the Korean pantry, start with Korean Kitchen 101.

What is kimchi?

HoSan Kimchi Vegetables shows what most people understand by kimchi: Chinese cabbage that is salted and then seasoned with chili powder, garlic, ginger and spring onion. Kimchi is the collective name in Korea for vegetables that you salt, season and then let ferment. Usually that is Chinese cabbage, but radish, cucumber and scallions also become kimchi. By fermenting, the vegetables get a fresh sourness and a savoury depth that you do not taste in regular pickled vegetables.

In the past, Korean families made all the kimchi for the whole winter at once at the end of autumn, with neighbours and family together working on long rows of cabbage. That tradition is called kimjang and is on the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage. The red colour is by the way younger than you would think: Koreans made vegetables for a long time before the chili pepper arrived in Korea, so the oldest kimchi was not red.

What types of kimchi are there?

There are many types of kimchi, classified by the vegetable and by the season, and these seven you will come across most often. Not every kimchi is red or spicy: a few are mild and float in a clear broth.

Young or sour kimchi: what is the difference?

Young kimchi is fresh, crunchy and sharp, and sour kimchi has ripened longer and tastes more sour, softer and deeper. Kimchi slowly ripens in the refrigerator, so the same jar tastes different after a few weeks than on the day you opened it. Freshly seasoned cabbage that has barely fermented yet is called geotjeori, and kimchi that has ripened for months is called mugeunji.

For cooking, sour kimchi is actually the best. In a kimchi jjigae or kimchi bokkeumbap, the kimchi cooks or fries for a while, and then only well-ripened kimchi has enough sourness and flavour left to stand up to the fat of pork belly and the softness of rice. Young kimchi quickly becomes flat and a bit watery in the pan. So you better eat it cold next to your food, and put the rest of the jar at the back of the refrigerator for later. Do not throw away the liquid from the jar either, because a few spoons of it will immediately give your stew more colour and kick.

What can you cook with kimchi?

Jongga Stir Fried Kimchi is kimchi that has already been in the pan, soft and immediately ready to eat with rice, but with regular kimchi you can go in many more directions yourself. These are the dishes where kimchi ends up most often in Korea:

• Kimchi jjigae: stew of sour kimchi with pork belly or corned beef, tofu and a dash of kimchi juice.
• Kimchi bokkeumbap: fried rice from the day before with finely cut kimchi, some pork belly or luncheon meat and a fried egg on top.
• Dubu kimchi: kimchi fried with thin slices of pork belly, with slices of warm tofu next to it like Morinaga Tofu Extra Firm.
• Kimchijeon: crispy pancake with kimchi through the batter, easy with Chung Jung One Korean Crispy Pancake Mix.
• On the grill: with samgyeopsal you fry kimchi along in the fat of the pork belly, so tasty that it is a dish on its own.
• In ramyeon: a generous scoop of kimchi in a bowl of instant noodles, more about that in Instant noodles.

Recipes with kimchi

With these recipes you put kimchi on the table as a main role or as a regular side role.

Kimchi jjigaeStew of sour kimchi with pork belly and tofu.Kimchi bokkeumbapFried rice with kimchi, a soft egg and strips of gim.SamgyeopsalGrilled pork belly with lettuce, ssamjang and kimchi from the pan.DakgalbiSeasoned chicken thighs with cabbage and rice cakes, kimchi next to it.

If you still have a leftover kimchi, some luncheon meat and a package of ramyeon, make budae jjigae, the spicy stew in which all that goes together in one pan.

What kimchi can you buy?

Jongga Mat Kimchi is baechu-kimchi that is already cut into bite-sized pieces, in a small format that you finish in one or two meals. Ready-made kimchi is handy for on the side, and if you want to season vegetables yourself, there are kimchi sauces and spice mixes where the flavour is already in it. A package of Jongga is the same that Korean families simply take from the supermarket in Seoul, and the coarse gochugaru of Nongshim is the chili powder that is in the cabinet at home for the kimjang.

HoSan Kimchi Vegetables ready-made · 160 gCabbage with chili, garlic and ginger, shelf-stable in the cabinetObap Kimchi ready-made · 200 gReady to put next to your riceKimchi Base Sauce kimchi base · 453 gSpicy base to stir through vegetables or fried riceKikkoman Kimchi Sauce kimchi sauce · 300 gFor quickly seasoned cabbage, cucumber or radishAll Groo Gangnam Kimchi Seasoning kimchi sauce · 260 mlKorean seasoning sauce to make kimchi yourself with

View all kimchi →

How do you make kimchi yourself?

Nongshim Red Pepper Powder (coarse) is gochugaru, Korean chili powder, and the coarse variety is what you use for kimchi. Making kimchi yourself boils down to four steps: salting the cabbage, cooking a thin rice porridge, mixing the seasoning paste, and rubbing everything in and letting it ripen. You need this for it, along with Chinese cabbage, a piece of white radish, spring onions, garlic, and ginger:

Gochugaru, coarse 고춧가루 · Nongshim 454 gColour and a mild, fruity kickAnchovy sauce instead of aekjeotSalty depth in the pasteBagoong alamang instead of saeujeotSalted shrimp, finely chopped through the pasteGlutinous rice flour for the rice porridgeLet the spices stick to the leavesLobo Kimchi Marinade seasoning mix · 100 gThe shorter way, with the spices already mixed

Cut the cabbage into four lengthwise pieces, sprinkle coarse sea salt between the leaves, especially on the thick stems, and let it stand for a few hours until you can bend a stem without it breaking; turn the quarters over once in between, then rinse them thoroughly a few times in cold water and let them drain well. Meanwhile, cook one tablespoon of glutinous rice flour with a glass of water over low heat until it becomes a thin, shiny porridge and let it cool completely, because this porridge helps the spices stick to the leaves.

Stir the cold porridge with gochugaru, grated garlic and ginger, a dash of anchovy sauce, some finely chopped salted shrimp (in Korea saeujeot, we use bagoong alamang) and a pinch of sugar, and fold in strips of radish and pieces of spring onion. Put on gloves, rub the paste between every leaf, fold the quarters in half and press them firmly into a clean jar, leaving some room at the top. Let the jar stand at room temperature for a day or two until you see small bubbles and the kimchi smells slightly sour, and then put it in the refrigerator, where it will continue to ripen slowly. If you eat vegetarian, leave out the anchovy sauce and shrimp and add some extra salt or a dash of Yondu Vegetable Umami to the paste.

View all Korean spices →

How do you store kimchi?

Store kimchi well sealed in the refrigerator, and for store-bought kimchi follow the label, because shelf-stable kimchi in a can or bag may often be kept in the cupboard until opened. Press the vegetables down under the moisture again after every scoop and pick it up with a clean spoon, so the rest of the jar stays nice. Kimchi continues to gas while it ripens, so do not fill a jar to the brim and open the lid carefully over the counter. Becoming more sour is not spoilage but simply ripening, and it is precisely that sour jar you use for jjigae; see or smell something you do not trust, such as mold, then throw it away. Against the smell in your refrigerator helps a glass jar or container with a well-closing lid.

Everything you need besides kimchi is in these Korean categories:

Kimchi 김치Ready-made, sauces and seasoning mixesShop nowSpices & mixes 양념Gochugaru, broth and cooking baseShop nowSauces & jang 장Gochujang, doenjang and ssamjangShop nowRice cakes 떡 · tteokFor tteokbokki and dakgalbiShop now

Which pot you use for what, read in Gochujang, doenjang and ssamjang, and how you put kimchi with pork belly and ssam on the table in Korean BBQ at home.

Frequently asked questions

Kimchi is ultimately a jar that lives with you, because what today lies fresh and crispy next to your rice, becomes in a few weeks the sour base of a stew that makes your whole house smell like a Korean winter evening. Whether you get it ready-made or rub a cabbage yourself on a Sunday afternoon, it is mainly about that you use it, taste it and discover how you find it the tastiest. If you stand in the toko in Amsterdam in front of the shelf and do not know which one to take, feel free to ask us, and if you want to continue with the rest of the Korean kitchen, from jang to banchan, then read on in Korean kitchen 101.