Boy, do I have a good kimchi recipe! We're just about to put up the first of about 50lbs we use in a year. We love the stuff. Not only is it wonderful tasting, but studies suggest that kimchi is actually more nutritious than its component vegetables, that the lactofermentation doubles the amount of vitamins C, B1, B12 and Niacin. The process of fermentation also creates natural antibiotics that attack ecoli, listeria, etc... so it is a great thing to eat with meat or store-bought food.
Here's the recipe: Cabbage and Radish Kimchi
3 tbsp pickling salt
5 cups water
1 lb chinese cabbage/bok choy/other greens with crisp stems
1 lb daikon or carrot
1 1/2 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
4-6 scallions, cut into rounds
1 1/2 tbsp Korean Ground Red Pepper (evergreen seeds sells seeds for this pepper. We've used cayenne, which is a bit hotter, or ancho, which is much cooler. A good substitute is sweet paprika and cayenne mixed half and half.)
1 tsp sugar
Chop the daikon and chinese cabbage into 2 inch chunks. Dissolve 2 tbsp plus 2 tsp salt in the water. Cover the vegetables in a bowl or pot with the brine, and let them stand 12 hours+. Drain the vegetables, but keep the brine. Combine veggies with remaining ingredients, including the last tsp of salt. Pack the mixture into a large jar or crock (2 quart size works best for us). Pour enough brine over the veggies to cover. Push a plastic bag into the mouth of the jar, and add the remaining brine. Seal the bag (this keeps air and dust out of the mix while fermenting, but a crock with a lid is ok too.) Let the kimchi ferment for 3-6 days, or until as sour as you like. Store the kimchi in a fridge, cool cellar, or as the koreans do, bury it in the ground. It will keep nearly forever.
Do *not* can - pasteurization kills the good bacteria and ruins the flavor.
