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Kimchi using Taiwanese cabbage

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    • July 2, 2015 at 5:20 pm #62816
      EvilGrin
      Participant

      I love this cabbage either pickled with sugar and vinegar or in a stirfy with some dried shrimp. Our local Asian market finally got some that looked good enough for making kimchi.

      Its very similar to common green cabbage but flatter. It tastes slightly sweeter to me too.

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    • July 12, 2015 at 11:41 pm #62973
      Oxide
      Participant

      EvilGrin, cabbage is sweet because it contains sugars. The plant makes sugars to protect itself from freezing temps that would otherwise damaging it. Water freezes as 32-F / 0-C. By introducing sugar the freezing point drops a few degrees — how much it drops depends on how much sugar is present. Different varieties of cabbage can survive down to different temps. The varieties that tolerate the coldest temps are the sweetest…they produce the most sugar.

      The same is true for radishes. Both cabbage and radishes can be grown during the warmer summer months but they are not as sweet. With regard to radishes, the summer months produce the best ‘hot’ radishes, e.g. wasabi, horse radish, etc. If you want to taste something really sweet and delicious, get your hands on a fresh Korean radish in the late fall or early winter months. Also the best time for the sweetest cabbage.

      I am a fan of savoy cabbage. They hold up well in soups (like minestrone vegetable soup) and retain their crunch factor. And, they are sweet. Also works well for steaming fish in cabbage. I have not tried savoy cabbage for kimchi, but, why not?!? Except I adore the way Maangchi makes a small cut at the base of the cabbage and pulls it into two pieces. I am not sure that would work with savoy cabbage.
      (*^_^*)

    • July 13, 2015 at 1:35 am #62977
      EvilGrin
      Participant

      Ive used many kinds of cabbage and Bok Choy for kimchi including red cabbage. This last batch with Taiwanese cabbage turned out fantastic. I haven’t used savoy yet though.

      Try kohlrabi instead of radish in the kimchi sometime. :D

      • July 15, 2015 at 11:11 pm #63033
        Oxide
        Participant

        I actually saw a Maangchi video where she mentions making kimchi with savoy cabbage. I have watched so many of her videos I cannot remember which one it was. Literally, any vegetable can be made into kimchi. I am thinking of trying radish leaf kimchi this coming autumn.

        I ferment a lot of things, not just kimchi. Prior to the advent of electricity and refrigeration, everyone, everywhere on the plant, depended on fermentation for food preservation. Loosely called ‘pickling’… salt in water, add veggies, keep submerged … pickled everything.

        Everything that grows in the ground is coated with lacto-bacilli. It is everywhere. If you have ever used a water bottle for a few days without washing it, and noticed a sour smell around the area you drink from … that is lacto-bacilli, the bacteria that creates pickles and preserves kimchi. It is also in everyone’s mouth.

        Cut a Korea radish into 1/2 inch sicks. Cut an equal amount of carrots into sticks. Pickle in water, salt, and Korean red pepper flakes. Ferment on the counter for 7-10 days, then refrigerate. Enjoy the radish and carrot sticks with a whiskey sour or gin tonic.

    • July 16, 2015 at 1:29 am #63038
      EvilGrin
      Participant

      Our family has been making kraut and a variety of pickles as long as i can remember. I just finished making some no salt sweet pickles and some nearly no salt dill pickles. Vinegar based not lacto fermentation. The cucumbers were weeped with sugar for the sweet pickles.

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      • July 24, 2015 at 3:50 pm #63202
        Oxide
        Participant

        Those pickles look great, EvilGrin. You need to making your own sausage. It is so incredibly easy to do and you control the quality of the ingredients. That looks like a Polish on your plate. Polish sausage is fermented for a couple of days then cold smoked.

    • July 16, 2015 at 1:36 am #63040
      EvilGrin
      Participant

      Sausage with my homemade ruby kraut and regular kraut.

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    • July 16, 2015 at 1:37 am #63042
      EvilGrin
      Participant

      My latest fermentations

      Fujian style red rice wine and my sweet rice wine which turned out fantastic. The red rice wine isnt quite ready yet and the sweet rice was just strained today. This is after several hours of settling in a secondary jar with air lock.

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    • July 24, 2015 at 4:07 pm #63204
      Oxide
      Participant

      Your rice wine looks good, too! I have not made Maangchi’s recipe for makgeolli yet, but I did buy all of the ingredients to make it. Currently, I am fermenting sweet teas, called kombucha. It is an effervescent beverage.

    • July 25, 2015 at 12:07 pm #63220
      EvilGrin
      Participant

      Those sausages come from a company in Texas. You can buy them at Costco for a very reasonable price.

      A family friend with a good sized smoke house makes my venison summer sausage for me. My dad loves his blood sausage but truth be told im not a fan of blood sausage. I love his summer sausage though. I let it hang dry a few more weeks after i get it from him.

      The white rice wine just got bottled today after a cold crash. I only used yeast balls to make it. Next batch of white will be with Angel Rice Leaven.

      The red rice wine is made with yeast balls and red yeast rice (similar to red koji). I just put it in the fridge to cold crash today.

      I use the milky/cloudy leftovers for marinade but they are very drinkable too.

      I have nuruk but im not a fan makgeolli really. I may try making some with less water. That extra water is what normally makes rice wine sour. All the Chinese sweet wine recipes call for minimal water in cooking and no extra added during fermentation.

      Mine are sweet fruity and fairly strong.

    • July 25, 2015 at 12:21 pm #63221
      EvilGrin
      Participant

      Those pickles are just the dills. I cant seem to find a pic of the sweet pickles. I even use wild grape leaves for color. The dill and peppers are from my garden too. Either cayenne or dragon chilli..not really sure :D

      Processed foods have WAY WAY too much added salt and other chemicals. My sweet pickle chips and whole dills have none. The dill chips have only a tiny bit from weeping.

      • July 28, 2015 at 10:41 am #63311
        Oxide
        Participant

        I do not know about grape leaves’ influence on color. Grape leaves have tannins in them that will make your pickles more crunchy. They are used to make crunchy, kosher dill pickles. Oak leaves and horseradish leaves also have the tannins in them and can be used instead of grape leaves.

    • July 28, 2015 at 10:58 am #63312
      EvilGrin
      Participant

      Grandma always added them from her concord grape vine. She always told us it was for color. I never thought about the natural tannins.

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