Using cooked vegetables for kimchi

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    • #57520
      kuninyo
      Participant

      Can one use cooked vegetables, like brussel sprouts which are very hard uncooked, to make kimchi? Do all the veggies have to be raw?

    • #57617
      UltimaKimBap25
      Participant

      Brussel sprouts are hard, so try steaming them for 5 minutes under “near boiling” water.

    • #57957
      Dan
      Participant

      By cooking the vegetables, you are killing the lactobacillus bacteria that are responsible for fermentation, so you will get no fermentation unless you re-introduce the bacteria with other raw vegetables as part of the dish, or by inoculating it with already-fermented food, which is probably safer (and more tasty!).

      Remember, the salting and the fermentation process will soften the food. If it’s super-hard and you absolutely must steam-soften it first, then I would suggest that you only cook it part way, make sure you add plenty of raw vegetable ingredients to the ferment, and if possible, add a tablespoon or so of food that has already been fermented (like some kimchi, dongchimi, or some dongchimi brine, etc.) This will inoculate the ferment with the good-guy bacteria that you need. Also, I would let the steamed vegetable come completely down to room temperature before you assemble it and put it down to ferment. Good luck!

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