Kimchi

• 1. Introduction

  ›

  In 2010, heavy rain shortened the cabbage harvest in South Korea, and kimchi prices climbed so high that newspapers called it a national crisis. Kimchi is the salted, fermented vegetable dish served beside almost every Korean meal, most often made from napa cabbage or Korean radish. Some restaurants stopped giving it away free. The New York Times compared this to an American hamburger restaurant that no longer offers free ketchup. The government responded by temporarily cutting tariffs on imported cabbage, timed to the kimjang season, when winter kimchi is made.

  A side dish that can be called a national crisis raises questions. Where did its name come from, and what does that name say about its past? What happens inside a sealed jar to turn raw cabbage into something sour and fizzy? And why have Korea, China and Japan each argued over who gets to define it?

  464513

• 2. A Submerged Vegetable

  ›

  Thimchoy is an early ancestor of the word kimchi. It was a Middle Korean rendering of the Chinese characters 沈菜, which literally mean submerged vegetable. The form appears in Sohak Eonhae, a 16th-century Korean rendition of the Chinese book Xiaoxue. From there the word changed step by step: timchoy, cimchoy, cimchuy, and finally kimchi. The opening consonant first lost its puff of breath, then softened through palatalization, and finally hardened again. A vowel dropped out along the way. Today the characters 沈菜 are read chimchae and no longer refer to kimchi or to anything else. Kimchi is not counted as a Sino-Korean word, and the standard languages of both North and South Korea accept it as the proper term.

  A second and older name, ji, has referred to kimchi since ancient times. It descends from the archaic Korean dihi, which shortened to di and then to ji. Books from the Joseon period, which ran from 1392 to 1897, contain the Middle Korean form dihi. The suffix -ji survives in names such as jjanji and seokbak-ji. In the Gyeongsang and Jeolla dialects, ji is also a noun on its own.

  In Jeolla and Hamgyŏng, people say jimchae, while jimchi is heard in Chungcheong, Gangwon, Gyeonggi, Gyeongsang, Hamgyŏng and Jeolla as well. The English spelling kimchi comes from the McCune-Reischauer transcription kimch'i. In the P'yŏngan dialect, the older unpalatalized sound lives on in the form dimchi, a spoken fossil of a sound that other regions lost.

  67141612

• 3. Pickle Jars And Peppers

  ›

  The Samguk Sagi, a historical record of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, mentions a pickle jar used to ferment vegetables. That mention suggests fermented vegetables were everyday food at the time. The Goguryeo people, linked to the earliest kimchi, were skilled fermenters who ate fermented food widely. During the Silla dynasty, which ran from 57 BCE to 935 CE, kimchi became widespread as Buddhism spread and encouraged a vegetarian way of life.

  Yi Gyubo, a 13th-century literatus, wrote a poem about Korean radish that shows radish kimchi was common in Goryeo, which lasted from 918 to 1392. One line says: "Radish preserved in salt is a winter side dish from start to end." Another describes the harvest after frost: "Harvesting after the frost, a slice cut by a knife tastes like a pear." Pickling suited a world without refrigerators, because it stretched the life of vegetables through the cold months.

  Chili peppers, now a standard kimchi ingredient, were unknown in Korea until the early seventeenth century. They are a New World crop, and Portuguese traders carried them to East Asia. Early records of kimchi mention neither chili nor garlic, so the old dish was not spicy. The first mention of chili pepper appears in Jibong yuseol, a reference work published in 1614. Sallim gyeongje, a farm-management book from the 17th and 18th centuries, wrote about kimchi made with chili peppers. Even so, chili did not become widespread in kimchi until the 19th century. Recipes from the early 19th century already closely resemble today's kimchi.

  A 1766 book, Jeungbo sallim gyeongje, lists kimchi made with a wide range of ingredients. Among them were chonggak-kimchi, made with chonggak radish, oi-sobagi, made with cucumber, seokbak-ji, made with jogi-jeot, and dongchimi. Napa cabbage reached Korea only at the end of the 19th century. Siuijeonseo, a cookbook from around that time, describes whole-cabbage kimchi much like the form eaten today.

  2125302437

• 4. Life In The Jar

  ›

  Salting at 5-7 percent for 12 hours, or at 15 percent for 3 to 7 hours, draws water out of sliced cabbage or daikon. The pieces are cut small and uniform first, to expose more surface. The salt raises the salt level in the vegetables, which protects them by blocking harmful microorganisms. Cooks use coarse brining salt, which is minimally processed and helps flavors develop. For spicy kimchi, the cabbage is usually salted twice.

  Gochugaru, scallions, garlic, ginger and jeotgal, a salted seafood, go in once the water is drained. Fish sauce and sugar are common additions, and sugar can bind any leftover water. The packed vegetables then sit in airtight jars at room temperature for 24 to 48 hours. The ideal salt level during fermentation is about 3 percent. Because fermentation releases carbon dioxide, the jar must be burped daily. The more fermentation occurs, the more gas dissolves, giving the kimchi a carbonated-drink quality.

  No starter culture is added to kimchi. The raw cruciferous vegetables themselves carry the lactic acid bacteria, so fermentation begins on its own. Salting and red pepper powder hold back pathogenic and spoilage bacteria, which lets the lactic acid bacteria dominate. Leuconostoc leads early, because it tolerates less acid and grows well at low salt. As acidity climbs, Lactobacillus and Weissella take over. Lactobacillus also does better where salt is higher. The bacteria prefer cool conditions near 10 degrees Celsius, though a warmer batch ferments faster.

  Starter cultures of Leuconostoc mesenteroides, Leuconostoc citreum and Lactobacillus plantarum are used in industrial kimchi, yet they often fail. They cannot outcompete the bacteria already on the raw vegetables. The total population of microbes at the start decides the outcome, so quality and flavor vary widely. No recommended method exists to steer the community in advance. Yeasts such as Saccharomyces, Candida, Pichia and Kluyveromyces also live in kimchi, and they are blamed for undesirable white colonies, spoilage and off-flavors.

  Lactic acid, hydrogen peroxide and carbon dioxide are what the bacteria leave behind. Lactic acid quickly drops the pH, which makes the jar unlivable for most microbes that survived salting. The microbial community can also make B vitamins and break down plant cellulose, freeing nutrients that people normally cannot digest. Hydrogen peroxide acts as an antibiotic against some unwanted microorganisms. Carbon dioxide pushes out oxygen, which preserves the kimchi and adds the fizz.

  Per 100 grams, typical kimchi holds about 88.4 grams of moisture, 2.0 grams of crude protein and 21 milligrams of vitamin C. It is high in dietary fiber and low in food energy. The vegetables also add vitamin A, thiamine, riboflavin, calcium and iron. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency expects commercial kimchi to land at a pH between 4.2 and 4.5. Ingredients with a pH above 4.6, such as white daikon and napa cabbage, must not sit in conditions that let undesirable microbes grow. That 4.6 cutoff is common in food safety rules because botulism toxin is not produced below it.

  Sulfur compounds from garlic and ginger give kimchi much of its strong odor, which can put off people who did not grow up with it. Scientists are experimenting with the bacteria used in production to tone down the smell for international markets. Not every kimchi lover welcomes this, since the flavor changes too. Some see it as bending what they call "South Korea's narrative about its own culinary staple" to suit foreign tastes.

  7587818089

• 5. Gimjang Season

  ›

  November and December are traditionally when Korean households begin the winter kimchi, and women often gather in each other's homes to help. The work is called gimjang, and it once drew in a whole village. Large earthenware vessels called onggi held the kimchi, buried in the ground so it would not freeze in winter and would stay cool enough to slow fermentation in summer. The vessels also sat outdoors on special terraces called jangdokdae. The labor bonded women within a family. A winter baechu kimchi was made by filling salted cabbage with thin strips of radish, parsley, pine nuts, pears, chestnuts, shredded red pepper, manna lichen, garlic and ginger. Today household kimchi refrigerators with precise temperature controls are increasingly common, especially among city residents.

  Making kimchi was once taught from mothers to daughters, as part of preparing them to be suitable wives. Social media and online recipes now let people worldwide learn the craft. South Korea has also built programs for adult Korean adoptees to return and learn what it means to be Korean, and one lesson is making kimchi.

  In 2013, UNESCO added gimjang to its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. South Korea's entry was titled "Gimjang, making and sharing kimchi in the Republic of Korea." The listing says the practice reaffirms Korean identity, strengthens family cooperation and reminds people that human communities should live in harmony with nature. North Korea followed in December 2015 with an entry titled "Tradition of kimchi-making in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea." This made kimchi the second heritage item submitted by two countries, after the folk song "Arirang," which both Koreas also submitted. The registered subject is the culture of kimjang, not kimchi by itself.

  California, Virginia, Maryland, New York and Washington D.C. have issued proclamations declaring the 22nd of November Kimchi Day, to recognize the dish as part of Korean culture.

  485474952

• 6. Regions And Seasons

  ›

  More than 180 recognized varieties of kimchi exist, and they can be sorted by main ingredient, by region or by season. Kimchi is mainly recognized around the world as a spicy fermented cabbage dish, in the form of baechu-kimchi, made from whole napa cabbage leaves. Baek-kimchi is white and made without chili pepper. Dongchimi is a non-spicy, watery kimchi, and its brine goes into cold noodles called dongchimi-guksu. Kkakdugi is cubed Korean radish with fermented shrimp and a strong scent. Oi-sobagi is cucumber kimchi that can be stuffed with seafood and chili paste, and it is popular in spring and summer. Geotjeori is unfermented kimchi meant to be eaten fresh, while mugeun-ji is kimchi that has been aged.

  A regional classification from the 1960s divides kimchi by province, though practice has since diverged from it. In the north, kimchi has less salt and red chili, usually no brined seafood, and a watery consistency. North Korean kimchi tends to be less spicy and less red than the southern kind. It uses seafood less often and adds extra sugar to help fermentation in the cold climate. In Hamgyong Province, the nearby ocean means fresh fish and oysters season the kimchi. Hwanghae Province is known for hobakji, a pale kimchi made with pumpkin and no red chili flakes.

  Chungcheong Province has the most varieties of kimchi, and it relies on salt and fermentation instead of fermented fish. Gangwon Province stores its kimchi for longer periods and uses little salted fish. Jeolla Province uses salted yellow corvina and salted butterfish in its seasonings. Gyeongsang Province is saltier and spicier, with myeolchijeot, a brined fermented anchovy, giving a briny and savory flavor, plus oysters. In rural Pyongan Province, severe food shortages pushed cooks to adopt non-traditional ingredients. Abroad, some cooks make kimchi with western cabbage and even broccoli.

  In spring, after a long stretch of winter gimjang kimchi, cooks traditionally made kimchi from fresh potherbs and vegetables, eaten fresh rather than stored. Summer brought yeolmu radishes and cucumbers, made into yeolmu-kimchi that is eaten in several bites. Autumn meant baechu kimchi, built by pushing a stuffing called sok, literally "inside," between the layers of whole salted napa cabbage leaves. That kimchi had a strong salty flavor until the late 1960s, because large amounts of myeolchijeot or saeujeot went into it. Winter offered the greatest variety of all. Refrigerators now make this seasonality unnecessary, yet Koreans still eat kimchi by the traditional seasonal preferences.

  As of 2004, Korean households prepared baechu kimchi most often, followed by kkakdugi, dongchimi and chonggak kimchi. Baechu kimchi made up more than seventy percent of marketed kimchi, and radish kimchi about twenty percent.

  24311376

• 7. Whose Dish Is It

  ›

  In 1996, Korea protested the commercial production of kimchi in Japan. The Japanese product, called kimuchi, was not fermented and resembled asazuke more than kimchi. Korea lobbied the Codex Alimentarius, an organization associated with the World Health Organization that sets voluntary food standards for international trade. In 2001, Codex published a standard defining kimchi as "a fermented food that uses salted napa cabbages as its main ingredient mixed with seasonings, and goes through a lactic acid production process at a low temperature." It set no minimum amount of fermentation and did not forbid any additives. Korean kimchi exports did rise afterward. So did kimchi production in China, along with imports of Chinese kimchi into Korea.

  Since 2012, the Chinese government has effectively banned imports of Korean kimchi through its regulations. It ignored the Codex standard and defined kimchi as a derivative of its own pao cai. Kimchi is prepared very differently and carries far more lactic acid bacteria, which exceeds China's limits. Since then, commercial kimchi exports from Korea to China have fallen to zero, apart from minor amounts shown at exhibition events held in China.

  In 2017, a New York Times article described rising anti-Korean sentiment in China after South Korea accepted the deployment of THAAD. Government-run Chinese news media encouraged a boycott of South Korean goods, and some Chinese nationalists vowed to stop eating kimchi. Other Chinese nationalists criticized the move. They noted that China officially counts Koreans as an integral ethnic group, and that kimchi is also indigenous to the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture.

  In November 2020, the International Organization for Standardization posted ISO 24220:2020, a set of rules for making pao cai. The standard states plainly that it does not apply to kimchi. Even so, BBC News reported that the Chinese outlet Global Times described it as an international standard for the kimchi industry led by China. South Korean media and the public reacted with strong anger, and some Chinese people argued that China had the right to claim kimchi. Both sides later pointed to a translation error. Global Times said its Chinese article used the term pao cai, and its English version had erroneously rendered it as kimchi. It acknowledged that the two dishes are different, and Baidu Baike, a Chinese online reference site, removed the phrase "Korean kimchi originated from China" after a request.

  Sojin Lim, co-director of the Institute of Korean Studies at the University of Central Lancashire, notes that Koreans' kimchi is often called pao cai in China, even though China has its own Sichuanese fermented vegetable dish by that name. In 2021, South Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism issued guidelines proposing xīnqí as the proper Chinese translation of kimchi, and rejecting pàocài. CNN reported that the new term was unpopular with both Chinese and Korean netizens. Some Chinese people disliked being told how to translate the word. Some Koreans complained that promoting a Chinese term without an authentic Korean sound amounted to appropriating their own culture.

  4458597356

• 8. Rations, Orbit, Ledgers

  ›

  During South Korea's involvement in the Vietnam War, the industrial production of kimchi grew in importance, because the government wanted to provide rations for its troops. The troops were reportedly desperate for the food. The Korean government asked for American help to make sure soldiers in the field could get it.

  In 2008, South Korean scientists made a special kimchi for Yi So-yeon, the first Korean astronaut. This space kimchi was low in calories and rich in vitamins. It was also free of bacteria, unlike ordinary kimchi, where bacteria are essential. The worry was that cosmic rays might mutate them.

  By 2021, Koreans collectively ate 1,965,000 tons of kimchi. The average person ate 88.3 grams a day, down from 109.9 grams in 2010, a drop of 19.6 percent. Men eat more than women, averaging 106.6 grams a day against 70.0 grams. By another measure, South Korea uses 1.85 million metric tons of kimchi a year, or 36.1 kilograms per person.

  A large share of that comes from abroad, mostly from China. In 2017, South Korea spent around 129 million dollars to buy 275,000 metric tons of foreign kimchi, according to the Korea Customs Service. That was more than 11 times the amount it exported, and it left a kimchi trade deficit of 47.3 million dollars. In 2022, exports reached 41,121 tons while imports reached 263,435 tons. In the table of years from 2010 to 2022, only 2021 shows a surplus, of about 19.2 million dollars.

  4639242876