From an NY Times article about the high price of kimchi (in Korea):
Michel Troisgros, the renowned French chef from Roanne, listened to a Korean official hold forth on the wonders of fermentation and an ambitious project to export Korean foods like kimchi.
“I think you have to stop talking about fermentation,” Mr. Troisgros told the man. “It’s not sexy.”
Via Marginal Revolution. I love that remark (“not sexy”). Good epigraph for book or article about fermented foods.
I considered making kimchi until I was in a Korean market buying some. The Korean woman next to me thought it was too hard.
“Aged” seems to work over here as the distinguished sounding euphemism for “deliberately cultivated bacterial growth”
Ah, but not sexy is the new sexy…
Seth, I tried making kim chee a couple of months ago. It didn’t taste nearly as good as the stuff I can buy at the store, though I think I might know why my attempt didn’t work. I made it during the heat of summer, in a non-air-conditioned space. An acquaintance later told me that kim chee does best when it ferments at a cooler temperature. I will try again. In the meantime, I buy kim chee made by Hawthorne Valley Farm. It’s made without fish or shrimp.
Kimchee is not too hard to make on your own. If you have Sandor Katz’s book Wild Fermentation, there is a simple, authentic and easy recipe and it takes about a week to ferment. I did it last winter (made a quart) and it was good. There’s also a fruit kimchee recipe that I’m hankering to try soon.
I made sauerkraut this Spring – it was actually quite easy, and the results were much better than store-bought.
As opposed to Alex, I like my Kimchi stinky. The stuff from the store is just not stinky or flavorful enough.
Kimchi’s not as easy to make as kombucha, but it’s still pretty easy. It is easier than most traditional asian dishes; perhaps the woman meant it is hard if you consume a lot of it. (e.g are feeding a family.) I can make it much more regularly than kombucha, since a little cabbage goes a long way. Here is the recipe I use. (Also first hit on a Google search “how to make kimchi”, I believe.) It’s turned out great for me. I’ve experimented with vegetables other than nappa and also using various fruits as sugar sources. My two month old (non-spicy) watermelon yu-choy kimchi was the best one so far.