kimchi
emmymade
I had the privilege of spending the holidays in the presence of a world class fermenter, my dad. I asked him to show me how to make kimchi. He pointed me to a few different recipes, including the one linked. We followed Emmy's general guidelines, taking a few liberties:
- Used 1.5 very large heads of napa cabbage and doubled everything else. I would consider the amount we made a double batch, considering how large the cabbage heads were. We ended up with three quarts of kimchi in total, which is double what Emmy made in the video tutorial.
- Subbed 2 tbsp sugar for the minced pear in the love sauce. (Since we were doubling, we added 4 tbsp total.)
- Did not have glutinous rice flour, and used white rice flour instead. According to AI, white rice flour and glutinous rice flour are indeed different. According to redditers, white rice flour is an acceptable substitution in this context.
Other recipes go to great lengths to make sure that there are no air bubbles in the kimchi. They have you cover the top of the jars with weighted down cloth or parchment paper, so that gas can escape, but the vegetables don't spoil. For now, I am going to ignore these guidelines and see if you can make good kimchi without that added trouble.
The kimchi is currently fermenting in loosely sealed mason jars in the basement. I will check on them every day for the next couple of days to observe the fermentation process, and make sure the the veggies remain submerged in sauce. (My dad says that as long as the veggies are packed down in liquid, they won't spoil.) Stay tuned for further updates.
Update on January 5, 2026
We stopped the fermentation process on January 3, 2026, allowing for 7 days total of fermentation. We originally fermented the kimchi in the basement, which is a cool environment. My dad informed me that the recommended temperature for kimchi fermentation is 70o, so we moved the kimchi to the top of the fridge, which is warmer than the basement. The kimchi seemed to get more active after moving it onto the fridge. Each morning I would inspect the kimchi and press it down into the juices to keep it submerged. The kimchi produced more gas after being moved onto the fridge, suggesting that the new location stimulated more fermentation.
After our week of fun, the end result was undeniably kimchi. It was a bit more fermented than the store-bought kimchi made by Cleveland Kitchen that I'm accustomed too; the cabbage was softer than I was expecting. Next time I make kimchi, I will try a 5 day fermentation, since I do enjoy some crunch in the vegetables. I might also skip the paste made from sugar and rice flour if I make this again. I don't care for the thickened texture that it contributes. Apart from that, this was a great kimchi recipe and I'd happily make it again. Or, on the other hand, I may revert to buying kimchi from Stop & Shop, since that stuff also works great.