How to make kimchi

Why the cabbage is salted separately

In sauerkraut, salt is mixed through shredded cabbage and the resulting brine is the ferment. In kimchi, whole quarters or large pieces of napa cabbage are salted or brined, left to wilt, and then rinsed. Most of the salt goes down the sink.

What that achieves is a cabbage that has lost a great deal of water and gone flexible, without carrying so much salt that the seasoning paste cannot be tasted. The remaining salt, plus the salt in the paste, is what governs the ferment.

It also means the leaves stay in large pieces rather than being shredded, which is why kimchi has a completely different texture from kraut.

The method

Salt, rinse, paste, pack, wait. FoodHQ does not publish salt percentages, pH figures or keeping times for home fermenting. Those are safety numbers, they are set by a food safety authority rather than by a cookery writer, and the right ones depend on what you are fermenting and where you are. In the UK the Food Standards Agency is the authority — use a recipe from it or from another body with the same standing, and treat this page as the explanation of why that recipe is shaped the way it is.

1. Quarter the napa cabbage lengthways through the core so the leaves stay attached.
2. Salt it — either by rubbing salt between the leaves, or by soaking in a brine — and leave it for several hours, turning occasionally. It should go flexible enough to bend a thick stem without snapping.
3. Rinse it thoroughly, several times, and drain it well. This step is not optional and it is where a great deal of the salt leaves.
4. Make the paste: gochugaru — Korean chilli flakes — with garlic, ginger, and a savoury element. Traditionally that is fish sauce, salted shrimp or both; a vegan version uses a seaweed or mushroom stock. Many recipes include a cooked rice-flour porridge, which feeds the bacteria and helps the paste cling.
5. Add sliced spring onion, and matchsticks of Korean radish or daikon if you are using them.
6. Wearing gloves, work the paste between every leaf of every quarter.
7. Pack it tightly into a jar, pressing down so the brine rises. Leave headroom — kimchi is vigorous and will overflow. Leave at room temperature for one to three days, then refrigerate.

What normal looks like, and how it ages

• Bubbling and fizzing within a day or two at room temperature. Vigorous, and it will push brine out of the jar.
• A sour smell developing over the first few days, alongside the chilli and garlic.
• Fresh kimchi, in the first days, is crunchy, salty and barely sour. Good as a side dish.
• After a week or two in the fridge it is properly sour and complex. This is most people's idea of kimchi.
• After a month or more it becomes very sour and softer. This is mugeunji, and it is not spoiled — it is the kimchi used for stews, pancakes and fried rice.
• Press the cabbage back under the brine whenever you take some out.
• Fuzzy coloured mould means discarding the batch, as with any ferment.

Ingredients that matter

Gochugaru

Korean chilli flakes — coarse, bright red, fruity and only moderately hot. Not interchangeable with cayenne or chilli powder, which are hotter and duller.

Napa cabbage

Also sold as Chinese leaf. Its loose structure and thick white ribs are what kimchi needs.

The savoury element

Fish sauce, salted shrimp, or a vegan alternative. It contributes glutamate and depth as well as salt.

Rice porridge

Optional. It feeds the bacteria and helps the paste stick to the leaves.

Korean radish

Firmer and less watery than daikon. Either works.

Common questions