Skip to main content
Support

Browse by category

All categories
Fermentation Atlas

Vegetables from Korea

Baechu kimchi (napa cabbage kimchi)배추김치

Napa cabbage is soaked in brine until the leaves bend, rinsed, and coated leaf by leaf with a paste of chilli, garlic, radish and salted seafood. It starts at room temperature for a day or two, then ripens cold until it is sour and fizzy. Made in 6 steps over 11 days – 15 days. The longest step, ripen cold, takes 10 days (Lee M.-E 2015) and runs at up to 5 °C (Snyder A 2020). Salt is 8–15 % → 2 % (Battcock M. and Azam-Ali S. 1998). Leuconostoc mesenteroides and Weissella do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step10 daysReported[lee2015]Ripen cold
Temperatureup to 5 °CSet[snyder2020][lee2015]Ripen cold
Salt8–15 % → 2 %Reported[fao134]Soak in brine until the leaves bend
AciditypH 4.2–4.4Measured[song1995][osu-kimchi][lee2015]Ripen cold
Fully documentedVegetables11 days – 15 daysMore vegetablesMore from Korea

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe amounts are Oregon State University Extension's small batch (about 3 cups), which wilts cut cabbage with dry salt and ferments it 1–4 days before the fridge. The steps show the traditional way, with whole quarters soaked in brine.
2 lb (about 900 g)Napa cabbage · Cut in 1-inch pieces[osu-kimchi]
2½ TbspSalt · 2 Tbsp to wilt the cabbage, ½ Tbsp in the mix[osu-kimchi]
¼ lb (about 115 g)Daikon radish · In matchsticks or coarsely shredded[osu-kimchi]
3 clovesGarlic, minced[osu-kimchi]
2Green onions, thinly sliced[osu-kimchi]
2 tspRed pepper, finely chopped · Or 1 tsp red pepper flakes[osu-kimchi]
2 tspSugar[osu-kimchi]
1 tsp, optionalGinger, grated[osu-kimchi]
To tasteKorean chilli flakes and fish sauce or salted shrimp · The traditional paste; OSU's second recipe uses ½ cup chilli flakes and 1 Tbsp fish sauce per quart jar[osu-kimchi]
Starterspontaneous

Total time across the recorded steps: 11 days – 15 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play

What changes: A cut line splits each head into quarters so the brine can reach every leaf

Step 1 of 6
Halve or quarter the cabbage
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Leuconostoc
Weissella
L. mesenteroides
L. plantarum

FAO's flow chart cuts each head into four so the brine reaches every leaf. Output: cabbage halves or quarters.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

What makes this one different

Sauerkraut is dry-salted and ferments in its own juice. Baechu kimchi is brined first, rinsed, then seasoned leaf by leaf with a chilli, garlic and seafood paste, and it ripens cold for weeks, so Leuconostoc stays in charge longer.

Related ferments

Variants

  • MugeunjiLong-aged kimchi, kept 6 months to years in cold storage; very sour and soft, used for stews.
  • Bossam kimchiKaesong style; seafood, chestnut, pear and pine nuts wrapped in a cabbage-leaf parcel.
  • GeotjeoriFresh salad kimchi, eaten the same day; not fermented.
  • KimjangThe winter batch, kept in onggi jars buried in the ground (see kimjang-onggi-burial).

Safety

Kimchi is safe when its pH falls steadily below 4.6. That limit holds back Clostridium botulinum and lets the acid kill E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella, so Snyder et al. make it the one critical control point, and Western Australia's health department uses the same limit. Store kimchi covered at 5 °C or below; Oregon State University Extension says to keep it refrigerated.

Hazards the sources name: Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella, killed as the pH falls; Clostridium botulinum, held back once the pH is below 4.6; Staphylococcus aureus, reported in kimchi products.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

In Lee and Lee's 1990 survey of 61 old Korean cookbooks, baechu kimchi appears in 9 and radish dongchimi in 24. Whole-cabbage kimchi is young, because heading cabbage only reached Korea in the 19th century. Chilli powder first appears in a cucumber kimchi in Sallim gyeongje, and salted seafood in a seokbakji in Gyuhap chongseo (1809).

  1. [osu-kimchi] Oehler N. 2020 (reviewed 2024), Kimchi basics, SP 50-1007, Oregon State University Extension Servicegov
  2. [snyder2020] Snyder A., Breidt F., Andress E.L. and Ingham B.H. 2020, Manufacture of traditionally fermented vegetable products, best practice for small businesses and retail food establishments, Food Protection Trends 40(4), 251–263paper
  3. [fao134] Battcock M. and Azam-Ali S. 1998, Fermented fruits and vegetables, a global perspective, FAO Agricultural Services Bulletin 134, section 6.2.3 Kimchigov
  4. [song2021] Song H., Moon E.W. and Ha J.H. 2021, Application of response surface methodology based on a Box-Behnken design to determine optimal parameters to produce brined cabbage used in kimchi, Foods 10(8), 1935paper
  5. [song1995] Song J.-E., Kim M.-S. and Han J.-S. 1995, Effects of the salting of Chinese cabbage on taste and fermentation of kimchi, Korean Journal of Food and Cookery Science 11(3), 226–232paper
  6. [lee2015] Lee M.-E., Jang J.-Y., Lee J.-H., Park H.-W., Choi H.-J. and Kim T.-W. 2015, Starter cultures for kimchi fermentation, Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology 25(5), 559–568, doi:10.4014/jmb.1501.01019paper
  7. [wahealth] Department of Health, Western Australia, Risk assessment and legislative requirements for fermented foods, guide for Food Act 2008 authorised officers (kimchi and kombucha)gov
  8. [codex-kimchi] Codex Alimentarius, Standard for Kimchi, CXS 223-2001spec
  9. [lee1990] Lee H.-J. and Lee H.-K. 1990, 김치문화의 변천에 관한 문헌적 고찰 (a literature review of kimchi culture), survey of 61 cookbookspaper