Hello everyone! Ive seen that some people leave the kimchi ferment for 2 days, others for 5 days or even up to 2 weeks. So Im a little confused about how much my kimchi should ferment =)
Fermentation of Kimchi depends on your room temperature, and the saltiness of your kimchi.
Mostly, it will take a few days to ferment your kimchi at room temperature. However if you live in a warm country, it may take only 1 day because your room temperature will be higher.
Another factor that affects your kimchi fermentation will be how salty your kimchi is. If your kimchi is made very salty, it will take longer. My grandmother used to add more salt for her winter kimchi that she had to feed all family during winter time (3-4 months).
Hi maangchi, thank you for your reply!
I do live in a warm country but I have them stored in a cool dark place in airtight containers. I made two, one is destined to be eaten raw or with rice and the other one to make Kimchi jjigae.
Hi, I just made my kimchi yesterday for the first time in my life. In Asia, we can just get it from the supermarket easily. Now I live oversea and craving it, I had to make my own. But I have a question, I made it yesterday, and left it in my kitchken then went to sleep, next morning, I found out my husband put the container in the fridge. I tasted the kimchi, it is SALTY! Like very salty compares to the ones I bought from store. Is it suppose to be like that? Or should I take it out again? What should I do? Or Should I just let it sit for a bit longer?
Plz answer my question, I hope I didn't ruined the whole kimchi.
Thanks
Your kimchi must be made very salty. Did you follow the recipe on my website tightly? Check the comments under my kimchi recipe. You will read so many good tips for making kimchi.
I live in California and I've been having trouble trying to find those clay pots that you can store kimchi in. do you happen to know of a website in english that sells it or where i can buy one?
Hi Maangchi,
Thanks for the reply. As I just found your lovely website today so didn't have much time to read all of the comments and your replies. Actually I did not follow your recipe. I watched this video from youtube and decided to make it yesterday. Maybe I just didn't follow the video properly.
I surfed online today to see if there is any way to save my kimchi. Then I found here :D
Anyways, I just checked the comments and found the answer I wanted. I will try to put water in my kimchi container.
I also found I made other mistake, I didn't put sugar in it XD
hopefully my next kimchi will turn out perfect.
Thanks again.
Chiao,
oh, who told you to put water in your kimchi? No, never ever put water into your kimchi.
I'm copying and pasting my answer related to salty kimchi that I made for someone else.
"If you already made kimchi and it’s too salty, add more radish to the kimchi. Just cut a few radishes into disks and insert them into the salty kimchi. That’s my way to dilute"
Good luck in making your next batch of kimchi!
I normally put my kimchi jars in the basement (about 65 degrees) for 3 days, but this last time I decided to try 5 days to see what would happen. I'm so happy I did! I opened them today and they were bubbling like crazy! I think this latest batch tastes a lot better than ones I left for only 3 days, and now I'm thinking I might want to leave them sit for 10 days next time.
My recommendation is to just experiment. Try 3 days, 5 days, 7 days, whatever. From what I understand, the longer it ferments, the more sour it tastes. I like the sour flavor, but if you don't like it that sour, then don't let it go past 3 days. Also, don't worry about it going bad. If it does goes bad, you WILL know it when you first smell it. If that happens, throw it away, and next time add some shrimp paste and/or fish sauce to aid the fermentation process. Good luck!!
Hi,Maangchi,can I ask you a question about kimchi,pls?
I sucessfully made raddish kimchi according to your reciept, now the raddish is almost finished, leaving a lot of kimchi juice in my container. I want to make more this weekend, can I put the salt-soaked raddish into the leftover juice instead of making fresh paste? (the juice smells too nice to pour into sink...)
give me a shout when you got a second, thanks a million!
cheers!
dont throw away the juice, but dont put the raddish into the juice either, since it is already fermented and won't probably ferment any more.
use the juice to marinade meat or make soups. or use it as a condiment for ramyon or something. its orange/yellow gold.
Hi Maangchi,
If the kimchi is too salty, you suggested adding discs of radish in with the kimchi. Does this radish need to be put in salted water or does it just have to be peeled and cut and placed right into the kimchi container?
Thanks!
does it just have to be peeled and cut and placed right into the kimchi container?
Yes, insert the radish discs right into the kimchi.
dorkielala - I know you asked two years ago, but if you are still reading you can find onngi (the clay pots) on http://english.gmarket.co.kr - they sell everything you can't get outside of Korea and have been very reliable for me - I have bought a sinseollo pan from there, dasik molds, yukgwa molds, and a set of brass royal chopstick/spoon sets - all arrived in NZ in perfect condition and well wrapped.
Hi Maangchi!
Do you think adding a teaspoon or two of live yoghurt to kimchi would accelerate the fermentation?
I just made a batch of "emergency kimchi", but I used Huy Fong Foods' Chili-Garlic sauce instead of doing it from scratch, and I'm guessing it's pasteurized. I don't know if that will make a difference in the fermentation, but I'm thinking maybe I could add a spoon of yogurt to be on the safe side.
They both use varieties of Lactobacillus, albeit different ones, so maybe it would work? What do you think?
PS: Unfortunately, I can't find any "live" sauerkraut or kimchi at the store, because they're also pasteurized.
Absolutely do not add yoghurt!It has dairy proteins which would give very undesirable flavors. Kimchi will ferment naturally. You have to give it time. You need to plan ahead and have patience.
As for the finding "live" kimchi, you wouldn't be able to use kimchi as a "starter" like you do with sourdough. Simply follow the directions that Maangchi has given, and the kimchi will ferment on its own.
As for the Hoy Fong Chili Garlic paste, that is a chinese product, with totally different types of peppers, flavors and ingredients. Don't know what you will get, but I don't think it will taste like kimchi. Kimchi was developed over hundreds of years using specific types of ingredients. Yes, there are hundreds of variations, and lots of substitutions, but I rather think this might not work.
But please do update everyone with how it turns out.
@Ashimi: Huy Fong Foods is Vietnamese, but I get your point.
Regardless, you're right about giving it time: I just checked and it's starting to smell like kimchi :)
Maanchi, i need help, what if I do not have radish and my kimchi is too salty, what can I use as a substitute to radish?
Hi Maangchi, my name is Kelly, my hometown in Vietnam, and I am going to make Kimchi when I get home. I will back home this summer; as you know, Vietnam is a hot country specially will hotter in summer. So, do I need to put kimchi box into the refrigerator after i mixed or just left it (the kimchi box) outside (I mean cold place). Also, I have one more question, If I can't find out the sweet rice flour (chapssal garu) in Vietnam, so what flour can I replace it (sweet rice flour)? I was think buy in here and bring it back, but I think I will have problems if I am carrying it because the police officer will think I am bringing drug :)) it hard for me to bring it back to Vietnam :(.
Hope to see your response soon. Thank you, and have a nice day
@kelly hi i am from malaysia, i think the weather of our country is almost the same! >< i put my kimchi in indoors for 3 days with the fermentation process.. after that u can straight put it into the refrigirator already.. I also cant find the sweet rice flour in the place i live so i used the substitution which is recommended by maachi, the plain flour! Yup, the flour which is used to make noodle and cake! XP
@austintexican: I know you asked this question almost a year ago, but thought I could help if you're still wondering about using yogurt. You can strain the yogurt by lining a fine mesh strainer with cheesecloth or a few layers of paper towels, pouring in regular yogurt (not Greek yogurt, as it has already been strained), then setting the strainer over a bowl in your fridge. After several hours or overnight, the whey will strain out of the yogurt and be collected in the bottom of the bowl and the strained yogurt will remain in the lined strainer. You can put the yogurt aside to use as a healthier alternative for sour cream, in smoothies or to use as you would for Greek yogurt, and the whey that strained out can be used to speed up lactofermented veggies, like kimchi! This can be used in kimchi that you want to make with less salt, since you will only need to ferment it for 1 or 2 days. By using whey, you are adding lactobacilli directly into your fresh kimchi, so less salt is necsessary, since the salt acts to inhibit "bad" bacteria while the lactobacteria are growing over the first few days in traditional kimchi (kimchi made without a starter).
If you do use the whey starter, be sure to taste your kimchi daily to be sure it isn't getting too sour for your liking too fast. When it reaches the right sourness for your liking, put it in the fridge. When I make kimchi the traditional way, using just veggies, salt and spices, I ferment at room temp for 5 days. When I use whey, it is 2 days, max.
As another poster said you don't want to add the actual yogurt to your kimchi, because it will spoil and ruin your batch. But the whey is fine to add, and works wonders when you need "quick" kimchi!
If you need any more info using whey as a starter for lactofermented veggies of any kind, you can look up "Nourishing Traditions" recipes online or get the Nourish traditions cookbook by Sally Fallon. Lots of good fermented recipes, and she gives the correct amount of whey to use in your recipes (it isn't much -- maybe a tablespoon in a big batch of kimchi? I can't remember the exact amount off the top of my head, but you can find it if you google it).
Anyway, hope this helps!! :)
@Emaline904: Thanks!
hi maangchi,
i made kimchi 3 days ago. i packed it into old glass pasta sauce jars and screwed the lid on tightly. i left 2 jars in a dark cupboard in my kitchen, and put the remaining jars in the fridge to ferment more slowly. i unscrewed the lids of the 2 jars left out only once, just to let some of the gases out (but i didn't open the lid all the way), then screwed them back on. after 2 days, i put the 2 jars into the fridge. today (day 3), i decided to taste some to see how it is doing. well, it is very sour (more than expected after just 3 days?) and tastes kind of carbonated or "fizzy"! the cabbage is also a bit softer than i am used to with store bought kimchi. did i do something wrong? is it still safe to eat? is there a way to get rid of the fizziness (i don't like it like that).
also, when making kimchi, after packing the kimchi into jars, i found that there wasn't much kimchi juice (the sauce was more like a paste). i added a bit of brine (salt + water mixed in with the little remaining kimchi juice in the bowl) to cover the kimchi because ir ead that a few other places online (and also, i was worried about the kimchi being exposed to air an going bad in the jar). after a day, i noticed lots of bubbles and the brine seemed to get less liquidy? is this all normal too?
thanks!
helenhelen it sounds to me like your kimchi is fermenting perfectly. When it's fizzy that means everything is going well.
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