What is kimchi?

An introduction to kimchi:

Kimchi is a traditional dish that has been an integral part of Korean culture for many centuries. It is made by fermenting vegetables (the most famous of which being the Napa cabbage) with chillies, ginger, garlic, onions and other fragrant aromatic ingredients.

Microbes:

These ingredients used in the kimchi making process kill off harmful bacteria while promoting the growth of healthy microbes, including Leuconostoc, Weissella, and Lactobacillus families which occur naturally from the vegetables we use.

These microbes aid the fermentation process and give kimchi its distinct flavour. Some of them prefer less salt, while others don't mind as much. Some prefer being stored at room temperature, while others prefer colder temperatures. Some microbes make kimchi sour, while others leave a fresher taste.

To make our kimchi cruncher in texture and fresher in flavour, we have carefully designed our kimchi making process and finely control the conditions our kimchi is made throughout the fermentation process.

As a general rule, our kimchi is 100% plant-based. Some of our specialty kimchi may have shellfish, fish or other allergens, which will be clearly mentioned/labelled.

How we make our kimchi:

Sourcing ingredients:

• We try to use small local suppliers where possible. Currently, we source our cabbages, spring onions, garlic and other ingredients from local organic farms when these vegetables are in season, but they are not always available. We aim to strike a balance between sourcing high quality ingredients and supplying accessible products.
• We purchase ingredients from small scale urban farmers and organic farmers for the asking price. It is a little more expensive, but we believe the extra money we spend is worth it to help local communities grow and aid in sustainability.
• We purchase from conventional farmers as they usually supply vegetables at good prices and provide consistent quality and supply. This ensures our products are accessible and available throughout seasons and over many years.
• We try to source most of ingredients from local farmers/suppliers, but gochugaru (Korean chilli powder) is hard to get locally. We make our own blend of chilli powder by using both Korean chilli powder and locally available chilli powders.

Brining & fermenting:

• Our style of is kimchi is based on Seoul/Kaesŏng style kimchi, lightly brined and fermented at a lower temperature to achieve a flavour that is more fresh than sour.
• Every batch of kimchi is made by adding a carefully calculated amount of salt.
• We take into consideration the initial ambient temperature when starting the fermentation process and decide how long to ferment our kimchi in cold storage. This is based on the seasons and flavour profile of the main vegetable used in the specific batch of kimchi, which varies depending on the location of the farms they were produced.
• Usually brining takes anywhere between 4 hours to 3 days depending on weather conditions and the main vegetable used. Generally speaking, it is shorter for Napa cabbage kimchi in summer, and longer in winter. We maintain a watchful eye over all of our kimchi to ensure it is the flavour we are looking for.

Best before date:

• We generally start packing and selling following the guidelines below:
• Day 2 - 4 cucumber kimchi is best before 4 days from packaging date
• Week 1 - 3 daikon radish kimchi is best before 1-2 weeks from packaging date
• week 2 - 6 Napa cabbage kimchi is best before 3 weeks from packaging date
• week 4 - 12 regular cabbage kimchi is best before 4 weeks from packaging date
• Our best before date is not an expiry date.
• It is more about how long we can assume the the quality of our kimchi will be the way we would like it to be.
• It varies based on storage temperature, how long it is kept out of storage between your purchase before getting it to a home refrigerator, and other factors. We usually try to keep transport our kimchi in a cooler box with ice packs if we assume the deliver will take longer than 30 minutes.

After best before date:

• If you buy our kimchi near the end of best before date, it does not mean it is going to be off. It means it has a more acidic flavour from the fermentation process. It is better to make kimchi jjigae (kimchi stew), kimchijeon (savoury kimchi pancake) and kimchi fried rice. 
• If you have leftover kimchi and you are not going to eat it soon, you can stir fry it with a little bit of sesame oil or any mild vegetable oil, and freeze it until you need it. We recommend frozen stir fried kimchi be used within a month.
• We recommend you to finish our kimchi within a week of opening. Please use clean utensils that have not touched other food (to avoid cross contamination or introducing harmful bacteria to the kimchi) when taking kimchi out of its container.