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Fermentation Atlas

Vegetables from Korea

Baek kimchi (white kimchi)백김치

Baek kimchi is napa cabbage kimchi made without red pepper powder. The salted cabbage is seasoned with a mild, watery mix of pear, garlic, ginger and radish and covered with liquid, so it sours into a pale, clean-tasting kimchi with a drinkable broth. Made in 4 steps over 26 days – 2.1 months. The longest step, ferment sealed in the cool, takes 12–50 days (소명환 and 김영배 (So and Kim) 1997) and runs at 15 °C (소명환 and 김영배 (So and Kim) 1997). Salt is 0.5–3 % (강근옥 1997). Leuconostoc mesenteroides subsp. mesenteroides and Leuconostoc paramesenteroides, with Lactobacillus bavaricus, at best ripeness and Lactobacillus plantarum and Lactobacillus brevis, once it is over-ripe do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step12–50 daysMeasured[so1997]Ferment sealed in the cool
Temperature15 °CMeasured[so1997]Ferment sealed in the cool
Salt0.5–3 %Measured[kang1997]Salt the cabbage
AciditypH 6.2 → 3.51Measured[so1997]Ferment sealed in the cool
Fully documentedVegetables26 days – 2.1 monthsMore vegetablesMore from Korea

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceAmounts per 100 g of a factory-made white kimchi from Gwangju, as analysed by the World Institute of Kimchi in 2025. Its salt content was 0.80 %. Home recipes vary; no tested home recipe with amounts was found.
60.40 gKimchi cabbage[kang2025]
22.70 gPurified water[kang2025]
4.80 gGround pear[kang2025]
1.50 gSalt[kang2025]
1.20 g eachPaprika, ground radish, ground onion, sliced carrot and ground garlic · Sweet paprika, not red pepper powder[kang2025]
1.00 g eachFermented shrimp and anchovy juice[kang2025]
0.80 g eachGround ginger and glutinous rice paste[kang2025]
0.50 gSugar[kang2025]
Starterspontaneous

Total time across the recorded steps: 26 days – 2.1 months

Start
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Close-up: salt moving into a pieceSalt 0.5–3 %

What changes: Salt draws water out of the cabbage and softens the leaves

Step 1 of 4
Salt the cabbage
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
0.5–3 %
Measured
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Leuconostoc leads
L. plantarum
L. brevis
L. mesenteroides

Output: salted cabbage.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
leaves soften and bend
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

less salt let it sour faster at every temperature tried

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

Baek kimchi leaves out red pepper powder and adds more liquid than baechu kimchi, so the cabbage sits in a broth like a water kimchi. Pear and other mild seasonings replace the chilli paste.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Frozen white kimchiUnripe white kimchi held at −45 to −10 °C for 4 weeks kept its pH at 6.05–6.18, though ice damaged its texture.
  • White kimchi juiceA drink made from the broth; one study found 1.0 % salt and 30 °C gave the best-liked base.

Safety

A survey of Korean kimchi found lower biogenic amine levels in baek kimchi than in baechu kimchi. Levilactobacillus brevis was the main tyramine maker among the bacteria isolated.

History and sources

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

A 1988 review of 896 Korean kimchi publications from 1976 to 1987 listed baek kimchi with whole-cabbage and bossam kimchi among the cabbage-based kinds.

  1. [kang2025] Kang M., Kim E., Chung H.-J. and Park S.H. 2025, Effects of temperature fluctuations and phase transitions on quality attributes of frozen Korean white kimchi, Food Chemistry X 29, 102610paper
  2. [so1997] 소명환 and 김영배 (So and Kim) 1997, Isolation and identification of major microbial groups during baikkimchi fermentation, Korean Journal of Food and Nutrition 10(3), 350–359 (abstract)paper
  3. [kang1997] 강근옥, 김우정 and 임현수 (Kang, Kim and Lim) 1997, Effect of temperature and NaCl concentration on the characteristics of baik kimchi, Korean Journal of Food and Cookery Science 13(5), 569–577 (abstract)paper
  4. [park2021] Park W.J., Kong S.J. and Park J.H. 2021, Kimchi bacteriophages of lactic acid bacteria, population, characteristics, and their role in watery kimchi, Food Science and Biotechnology 30(7), 949–957 (abstract)paper
  5. [lee2024] Lee J.H., Jin Y.H., Lee J.H., Park Y.K. and Mah J.H. 2024, Determination of biogenic amine-producing lactic acid bacteria in kimchi varieties through in vitro analysis and low temperature fermentation, Food Science and Biotechnology 33(10), 2301–2312 (abstract)paper
  6. [jo1988] Jo J.-S. and Hwang S.-Y. 1988, Standardization of kimchi and related products (2), Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture 3(3), 301–307 (abstract)paper