Reply To: Made Kimchi Twice and Both Times Was Not Sour

Nayko is right about using your hands. My hands are toasty warm at the moment as I just finished 2 kimchi batches. Also, if you leave out a salty ingredient (shrimp paste, anchovies, fish sauce), add soy sauce or tamari in the same amount. Fermentation needs the right salt content to eliminate the bad bacteria and encourage the healthy bacteria from your clean hands (wash your hands, get all the soap gone, and you’ll still have plenty of good bacteria on you – at least half of the cells in your body are bacteria). Kimchi makes sure those bacteria stay on the good side :-)