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Unsalted Kimichi??Possible??

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    • April 16, 2017 at 4:57 pm #72182
      Zakii1996
      Participant

      Hello Maangchi, im a fan of you from Montreal.It been a long time that I loved eating korean food and started to cook my own korean food at home with your video.Sadly, recently I got the new that I could’nt eat lot of sodium because I got a heart condition.I loved so much to eat kimichi but because it contain a lot salt I needed to stop eating it sadly :( .I would like to ask you if it’s possible to make kimichi without the salt? Can it be still delicious? I know that it not the traditionnal kimichi.I lovee to eat kimichi and it kind of sad that I need to stop because of the salt.

      Hope that you can help me :)
      Love you from Zakii

    • April 17, 2017 at 5:12 am #72187
      O, Joo-Hwan
      Participant

      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.

    • April 18, 2017 at 12:14 pm #72219
      EvilGrin
      Participant

      Watch the sodium in the pepper flakes too. Many are LOADED with sodium.

      This turns into 4800mg per cup so pay attention to the lables.

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