food Kimchi

As long as it has soured i like it as a side dish. Kinda depends on the mix though. In really fresh kimchi the ginger can be overpowering but you can always use less ginger. It tones down a great deal as it ferments. A Chinese friend runs a small restaurant and he makes kimchi. They seem to prefer it more fresh and with a tad more ginger than i like, His Chinese style pickled cabbage though is to die for. Sweet, sour and just a tiny bit spicy.
 
Its basically just salted cabbage/carrots with a sweet pickle brine, ginger and a couple dried whole chilis. Very easy to make and the ginger goes great in the sweet rice vinegar brine.
 
Maangchi has her moments but i find some of her recipes to be too salty. I even have her cook book. I also look at CrazyKoreancooking and Koreanbapsang websites. A lot of my Korean cooking is sorta of a mix of those three. Mykoreankitchen and Beyondkimchi websites are also worth reading.
 
Im going to bite the bullet and splurge within a few days. One of my Korean markets has Korean grown pepper flakes and Korean sun dried sea salt. Ive been dying to try them for ferments. The salt comes from Imja island. The lady at the market swears it makes better kimchi. :D
 
I follow maangchi vids as well....still need to get the pepper powder for the next run.

I picked up a box of squid to give that a try in the next batch as well.

How ever you make it...it sure is delicious.
I googled what pepper to use if the goru powder was not available....Aleppo was recommended....of course I added a few seeds to the germination dome to give it a try.
 
Kitazawa seed company has heirloom gochu seeds. I plan on trying these. http://www.kitazawaseed.com/seed_525-104.html
 
Amazon and Ebay have a fair selection of Korean coarse pepper powder but only a few from Korea. Most are from China and packaged in Korea. The Korean grown are over $30 for 2.2lbs plus shipping.
 
I think my market had this one in 1lb bags for about $16. http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-2lbs-ORGANIC-Korean-Red-Pepper-Flakes-Red-Chili-Gochugaru-Gochujamjari-/332066887712?_trksid=p2141725.m3641.l6368
 
Finally bought Korean pepper flakes from Korea and not China. The lady told me these are hotter than the others too. Nearly $18/1.1lbs though....OUCH. Only peppers are listed in the ingredients, Most have salt listed also.
 
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I just made up two half gallons a few days ago.....Still didn't have the powder but stopped in the mex store and bought Japones.
 
Google search says they are  Japanese peppers and the scoville is hotter than Gochu.
 
Other than that followed the recipe making the paste etc etc....after 24hrs the fermentation was kicking that for sure.
 
Waiting 2 weeks before sampling.
 
Thegreenchilemonster said:
I got a batch of dried gochu from Stickman last year. I would have a hard time touching commercial dried Korean flakes again for kimchi. The flavor difference is very noticeable.
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Im going to grow some of my own this year but i dont see how i can grow enough to make enough powder for my kimchi habit. Plus i use it all the time for stews.soups and just about any time i want to add a little heat to something. The cheap flakes i get for around $8/kg and they taste great. I just dont like the amount of salt in them. I picked up another 435 gram bag without salt but they were from China. I think i paid $4.35 for it.
 
https://www.jayone.com/WEB/?mid=grain_powder&product_srl=25511
 
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I started a new batch of radish and kohlrabi kimchi with some of the tops added too. Its mostly Maangchi's recipe with the addition of Asian pear puree. Its almost done weeping and ready for the fermenter. I normally don't add the pear to my ferments but since radish kimchi usually includes some sugar i thought it might be nice to give it a try. If its too sweet i will just let it ferment out in the fridge.
 
Thegreenchilemonster said:
I got a batch of dried gochu from Stickman last year. I would have a hard time touching commercial dried Korean flakes again for kimchi. The flavor difference is very noticeable.
Click to expand...
 
+1 on the flavor difference! Some of it is that other varieties have been substituted for the Gochus by the Chinese merchants and some is that it's oven-dried instead of sun-dried. Gochus are pretty prolific, but it takes at least 20 plants a whole growing season to make enough pods for a kilo of powder.
 
stickman said:
 
+1 on the flavor difference! Some of it is that other varieties have been substituted for the Gochus by the Chinese merchants and some is that it's oven-dried instead of sun-dried. Gochus are pretty prolific, but it takes at least 20 plants a whole growing season to make enough pods for a kilo of powder.
Click to expand...
In that case, it seems like our trade might have been a bit uneven, since I traded you a FRB of fresh pods, for an equal amount of dried Gochu. I owe you at least another MFRB this upcoming season to compensate! I plan on brewing a Kimchi Gose in a few months with your gochu pods, I'm just ironing out the recipe right now. Thanks again for the trade, my kimchi has never tasted better.
 
I added a Tbs of the "hot" produced in Korea pepper flakes (i posted earlier) then added my paste with Asian pear puree. To be honest i didnt think they were that much hotter than what i normally buy. Not much sweeteness to the pear but the flavor of the kkaktugi fresh was amazingly good. I topped off the jar with some of the liquid from the weeping just to make sure it was submerged and for a little extra salt.
 
The ferment begins.
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Wow, fermentation is kicking in fast. I did use a couple tbs of juice from a previous batch but i think it really likes the Asian pear puree. I can see tons of trapped air pockets throughout the jar that were not there yesterday. I had mixed the "starter" with the puree and paste yesterday while the radish and kohlrabi were weeping. I have enough leftover to try with some Taiwanese cabbage. Looks like i need to run to the market for more carrot and radish soon. :D
 
I think the pear is just the ticket for a kimchi flavored hot sauce too.
 
Red cabbage works. Ive made it a few times. IMO is takes longer to ferment and it will alter the color as it ferments. Taste just fine though once its good and sour. It has a slightly off taste fresh.
 
It's been a while since using purple cabbage.  I remember it fading in color and turning kind of a grey color.  Like SMDS said, it tasted fine, just not as good of color.
 
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