Skip to main content
Support

Browse by category

All categories
Fermentation Atlas

Vegetables from Korea

Dongchimi (winter water radish kimchi)동치미

cold, clear, tangy broth with crunchy radish; broth used for naengmyeon and dongchimi guksu. Made in 3 steps over 3 days – 31 days. The longest step, ferment, takes 2–30 days (Park S.-J 2008) and runs at 5–25 °C (Park S.-J 2008). Salt is 2–3 %. Leuconostoc mesenteroides and Lactobacillus plantarum do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step2–30 daysReported[park2008]Ferment
Temperature5–25 °CMeasured[park2008]Ferment
Salt2–3 %TypicalPack with aromatics, cover with light brine
AciditypH 3.6–4Measured[park2008]Ferment
DocumentedVegetables3 days – 31 daysMore vegetablesMore from Korea

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedWhat goes in. No source gives amounts for this ferment.
whole or halved Korean radish
napa cabbage
scallion
pickled green chilli
ginger
Korean pear
water
salt
Starter: spontaneous

Total time across the recorded steps: 3 days – 31 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
Close-up: salt moving into a piece

What changes: Whole radishes are rolled in salt and rest for about a day

Step 1 of 3
Roll whole radishes in salt and rest
Time
24 h
Typical
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
L. plantarum
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

Variants

  • Baechu dongchimiadds napa cabbage stuffed with julienned radish and kelp stock
  • Daenamu dongchimibamboo leaves added; South Jeolla specialty; lower sodium, slower ferment, keeps long
  • Gungjung (royal) dongchimismall radishes, yuja citron, pomegranate and pear

History and sources

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

First recorded in Yorok (late 17th century). It is the most-recorded kimchi in 61 cookbooks (24 of them), against 9 for baechu kimchi. Radish kimchi came first: heading cabbage only arrived in Korea in the 19th century.

  1. [s2] Wikipedia, Dongchimiwiki
  2. [ll1990] Lee Hyo-ji and Lee Hye-kyung 1990, 김치문화의 변천에 관한 문헌적 고찰 (a literature review of changes in kimchi culture, 61 cookbooks from 752 to 1984), koreascience JAKO199071663776322paper
  3. [park2008] Park S.-J., Chang J.H., Cha S.-K. and Moon G.-S. 2008, Microbiological analysis of dongchimi, Korean watery radish kimchi, at the early and mid-phase fermentation, Food Science and Biotechnology 17(4):892–894paper