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Vegetables from Korea

Sangat kimchi (wild-mustard kimchi ripened on a warm floor)산갓김치

A Joseon kimchi of wild mountain mustard (sangat) shoots, washed in cold then warm water and covered with warm water in a small jar, with no salt. The jar sits on a hot ondol floor wrapped in clothes, or in a warm water bath, until the shoots ripen sharp and pungent. This entry is a reconstruction from the 17th-century text, with no measured values.

Fully documentedVegetables

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe recipe gives no amounts; a small jar of shoots and enough warm water to cover them.
Sangat shootsTrimmed[dimibang]
Cold water, then warm waterFor washing and rinsing; shoots washed only in cold water turn out bitter[dimibang]
Warm waterPoured into the jar over the shoots[dimibang]
No saltOld texts ripen the mustard without salt to bring out its heat[ek-gatssam][pnu-kimchi]
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What changes: Wild mustard shoots are trimmed and washed in cold water

Step 1 of 4
Trim and wash the shoots in cold water
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Output: clean shoots.

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 Joseon kimchi of wild mountain mustard (sangat) shoots, washed in cold then warm water and covered with warm water in a small jar, with no salt. The jar sits on a hot ondol floor wrapped in clothes, or in a warm water bath, until the shoots ripen sharp and pungent. This entry is a reconstruction from the 17th-century text, with no measured values.

What makes this one different

Most kimchi is salted and kept cool. Sangat kimchi uses no salt and is ripened warm, on a heated floor or in a water bath, to bring out the mustard heat.

Related ferments

Safety

The 17th-century text warns that a jar kept too hot scalds the shoots and spoils them, and a jar not warm enough does not ripen them. It gives no salt, pH or other safety limit. Treat this as history, not a recipe to follow. This method measures no pH. Snyder et al. say lactic bacteria and falling pH can hold back Clostridium botulinum in vegetable ferments. They also say ferments with little or no salt are more likely to turn unstable, and that some low-salt ferments show a potentially dangerous rise in pH above 4.6. A ferment that fails to reach below pH 4.6 should be discarded.

History and sources

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

Recorded in the Eumsik dimibang (Gyugon siuibang, c. 1670) of Jang Gye-hyang, and in Sallim gyeongje and Gyuhap chongseo. The Encyclopedia of Korean Culture treats it as the prototype of today's gat-ssam kimchi from Jeolla. The Pusan National University Kimchi Research Institute describes the Eumsik dimibang, written c. 1670 by Jang of Andong, as giving a kimchi of sangat put in a jar, covered with warm water and set on a hot ondol floor to ripen, and calls it a no-salt (mu-yeom) chimchae.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
Process times
The sources we found give no figure for how long any of its steps take.
Temperature, salt and pH
The sources we found give no temperature, salt or pH figure for any of its steps.
  1. [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
  2. [dimibang] Jang Gye-hyang, Eumsik dimibang (음식디미방, Gyugon siuibang), c. 1670, 산갓침채; Korean text on Wikisource, read 2026-10archive
  3. [ek-gatssam] Seo H.-K., 갓쌈김치, Encyclopedia of Korean Culture (한국민족문화대백과사전), Academy of Korean Studies; read 2026-10book
  4. [pnu-kimchi] Pusan National University Kimchi Research Institute (부산대학교 김치연구소), 김치의 발달과정 (The development of kimchi), Kimchi stories section; read 2026-11web