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Vegetables from Korea

Kimchi named by method or season (sogimchi, pusae, neutgimchi, jirae, dok, jjok)소김치

A set of kimchi names that describe when or how a kimchi is made rather than what goes in it. Jirae kimchi is a small batch made to eat before the kimjang kimchi ripens, and neut-gimchi is made with little seasoning, more salt and no jeot so that it lasts into spring. Others name a kimchi that is unsalted, unripe, cut into pieces or kept in a large jar.

A short entry: the sources we found record only what is said here about Kimchi named by method or season itself. Its own sources do not record how it is made, so the steps and scenes below are those of Kimjang jar burial (winter kimchi storage), the closest documented vegetables ferment, shown as a guide to the method, not as a record of Kimchi named by method or season.

Short entryVegetables

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedA naming set with no recipe amounts.
As for each variantThe names describe timing and method, not a fixed recipe[nfm-baechu]

Total time across the steps of Kimjang jar burial (winter kimchi storage): 14 days – 2.8 months

Start
Drag the bar or press Play

What changes: Through the year the household salts seafood, buys salt and dries chilli for kimjang

Step 1 of 5 · steps of Kimjang jar burial (winter kimchi storage)
Gather the seasonings through the year
Time
Seafood is salted in spring, salt bought in summer and chilli dried and ground in late summer
Reported
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Leuconostoc
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

At a glance

A set of kimchi names that describe when or how a kimchi is made rather than what goes in it. Jirae kimchi is a small batch made to eat before the kimjang kimchi ripens, and neut-gimchi is made with little seasoning, more salt and no jeot so that it lasts into spring. Others name a kimchi that is unsalted, unripe, cut into pieces or kept in a large jar.

What makes this one different

These are names of timing and handling. Jirae and neut-gimchi bracket the kimjang season, one made before it to eat early and one made to keep until spring, and the rest describe salting, cutting, ripeness or the jar.

Related ferments

Variants

  • So-gimchi (소김치)Made with salt only, no jeotguk.
  • Pusae gimchi (푸새김치)Not salted; made and eaten at once.
  • Byeorak gimchi (벼락김치)Made in a hurry and eaten at once.
  • Neut-gimchi (늦김치)Made without jeot, with little seasoning and a saltier taste, so it keeps until spring; opened after Seol.
  • Jirae gimchi (지레김치)A small batch made before kimjang, to eat until the kimjang kimchi is ripe.
  • Kimchi for before SeolRipens quickly, so it gets more seasoning and fresh local seafood such as oysters, raw shrimp and octopus.
  • Dok gimchi (독김치)Kimchi kept in a large onggi (dok).
  • Jjok gimchi (쪽김치)Cut into pieces.
  • Saeng gimchi (생김치)Kimchi not yet ripened; also used for geotjeori.
  • Put-gimchi or haet-gimchi (풋김치, 햇김치)Put-gimchi is made from new radish (yeolmu) or young cabbage in spring or autumn; haet-gimchi from new cabbage or radish in spring.
  • Beomuri gimchi (버무리김치)Tossed (beomurida) kimchi; 1 cookbook [LL1990].

History and sources

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

Before kimchi refrigerators, kimjang timing was limited by supply and storage, so households made jirae kimchi when the old kimchi ran out and split the kimjang batch into kimchi for before and after Seol.

  1. [nfm-baechu] National Folk Museum of Korea, Encyclopedia of Korean Folk Culture, Korean Food, Clothing and Housing (한국의식주생활사전), 배추김치 (names by season and ripeness); KOGL type 2, facts only; read 2026-10book
  2. [nfm-kimjang] National Folk Museum of Korea, Encyclopedia of Korean Folk Culture, Korean Food, Clothing and Housing (한국의식주생활사전), 김장 (jirae kimchi and neut-gimchi); KOGL type 2, facts only; read 2026-10book
  3. [KoWiki] Korean Wikipedia, 김치 (sections 역사, 종류, 지역별 김치; one-line definitions follow the Standard Korean Language Dictionary), read 2026-10: 기타 and 양념·부재료 sectionswiki
  4. [LL1990] Lee Hyo-ji and Lee Hye-kyung 1990, 김치문화의 변천에 관한 문헌적 고찰 (a literature review of changes in kimchi culture; 116 kimchi and 10 kkakdugi in 61 cookbooks, 752–1984), Korean Journal of Heritage 23, 107–133paper