Reply To: Unsalted Kimichi??Possible??

The salting of the cabbage leaves is not for flavor. It is to kill or retard the growth of harmful bacteria. Lactic acid bacteria (absolutely necessary for kimchi fermentation) are not affected by high levels of salt, so you are basically giving them a big head start. Nearly all of the salt is washed away in the triple rinsing step before the paste addition. Now, if you want to limit the salt in the flavoring step? That is doable. Commercial makers of kimchi know things taste better to the average palate with a lot of sodium, so they don’t skimp. Homemade kimchi is surprisingly light in salt if you are tracking it. In fact most Korean staple recipes are noticeably lacking in salt (if they have any salt in the ingredients at all), which is fine with me as people can always add more later. I would just limit the soy sauce or fish sauce. Not necessary. Only the initial salting is needed for proper fermentation, and once that’s done, you’re good to go.