How to Ripen Kimchi
Everyone has a different preference as to when Kimchi(김치) tastes the best – some love eating freshly made, raw kimchi (kind of tastes like a salad); some love eating it when it is just perfectly ripe and then there are those who love sour kimchi (신김치 shin kimchi) which has basically over fermented and obviously tastes quite sour. But one thing is for sure – no one likes the stage when it is in the in-between stages of being raw and ripe. Kimchi really does not taste good at all when it is in the process of getting ripe – I had an aunt who used to call this the time when kimchi has gone CRAZY! And you certainly don’t want to eat the kimchi when it’s crazy! 🙂 So here’s how to ripen Kimchi and avoid CRAZY kimchi.
Since most of us now buy kimchi from the store, let me first write about the best way to eat a store bought kimchi. Too often, I hear people say that the kimchi served at our house tastes great, but when they try the same brand themselves, they think it doesn’t taste nearly as good. I realized it was because they don’t take the time to ripen it properly and then also forget to serve it cold (right out of the fridge). I found that most kimchi (even the poorly made ones) will taste quite palatable when they have had time to ripen properly.
Now, the hard part about buying kimchi from a store is that it is hard to tell at what stage of the fermentation process they are in. One clue is the appearance of the vegetables. They will look more shriveled up if they are further along in the fermentation process. And the chances are that it will also have lost a bit of the juice because the content will start to bubble and balloon up when it ferments which ends up usually overflowing out of the jar. This is actually too bad because kimchi should always be immersed in its own juices for it to taste the best.
The best way is to buy the freshest kimchi possible and bring it home and ripen it from the beginning. But this is usually not possible…So far, I have found the best tasting kimchi that you can buy are actually the ones that are directly imported from Korea (종가집Jongajip is my favorite). It is expensive but worth it in my opinion as long as it hasn’t traveled too far or stayed on the shelf too long at your store. Other than that, the next best thing is to try to buy kimchi that is made locally if it’s available (less chance of it over ripening) and when you bring it home, open it, smell it or better yet, taste it. If your store has a fast turnaround, it is probably in the “crazy” stage.
If it’s already fully ripe, put it in the fridge in the coldest possible setting. If it’s not yet fully ripened and you can wait, let it ripen in your fridge. This will take about 2 weeks in your fridge. Also note that the juice may overflow so either move the kimchi into a bigger container or take some out (1/5th) and leave some room for the kimchi to expand. If your kimchi is still very fresh, not at all ripe and you need to eat it quickly, you can ferment it at room temperature.
In the summer, Kimchi will ripen in 12 ~ 18 hrs and in cooler weather it can take about 24 – 48 hrs. Just check every 4-6 hrs.
If this is all too much info for you to digest, I have a chart at the bottom of this post that can help you with the process. (Boy, it’s been ages since I drew up a flowchart…brings back memories from my college days of hand drawing the charts using graphic rulers..)
What is the ultimate best way to ripen or ferment kimchi?
The most delicious and fantastic kimchi is made when it is fermented the old fashioned way…In a traditional Korean clay jar, buried in the ground in winter time. Even though the ground freezes in the winter, the jar and the saltiness of the kimchi keep it from freezing completely. This is called 김장김치 (kimjang kimchi). Kimjang kimchi is usually made around the ‘start of winter’ (입동 ipdong) in the lunar calendar which is just about now (Nov 7-8th in Gregorian calendar).
I remember when I was a kid, we spent days preparing and making kimjang kimchi so that it could last us through the winter and into spring. We first dug big holes in the ground big enough to hold our huge clay jars (so big that a child can fall in). In the meantime, we spent the day washing and brining 100+ napa cabbages and also preparing the ingredients for the stuffing. The next day we took these salted napa cabbages and inserted the stuffing in between each cabbage leaf. It was an enormous amount of work but boy…was it worth it. All winter long, we got to eat these amazingly crunchy and zingy and sometimes even ever so slightly frozen kimchi that came out of these jars in the ground. So why was it so tasty?
According to research, when it is buried in the ground, the temperature remains quite constant – at 32 – 35 F all winter long. At this temperature it takes about 20 days for the kimchi to fully ripen but it is definitely worth the wait.
The clay jars are glazed to hold the moisture in but it can still breathe which allows just the right amount of air circulation to take away any heat produced from the fermentation (keeping the temperature stable). It also keeps the air tight enough for the bacteria to not grow too fast which helps the kimchi maintain its peak flavor for a longer period. The history of kimchi can be dated back almost 2000 years to the Goguryo Dynasty according to some historians, so you can see how long Koreans had time to refine the technique of kimchi making.
Since most Koreans now live in apartments and have no backyards to bury the jars, they have invented what is called a kimchi refrigerator. This fridge is different from the conventional refrigerator because the interior walls of the fridge are cooled instead of the air which helps to keep the interior at a more constant temperature. I own one and I have to say it is the next best thing to having your own kimchi jar in the ground. It even has temperature options for fermenting and then just storing it to prolong its freshness.
How to tell if Kimchi is ripe and ready to eat?
When a kimchi is not fully ripe, you are able to smell and kind of taste the individual ingredients – garlic, cabbage, radish, green onion, fish sauce, etc – as they have yet to fully integrate with each other. When it is fully ripened, the tastes of all the ingredients are well blended together and there is full flavor embedded in each cabbage leaf or vegetable pieces. There is also a slight sour taste with an added zing at the end. You can also no longer smell the raw ingredients individually but rather have a combined, wonderful slightly stinky smell that is unique to kimchi. Below is the chart that I promised earlier –
So how long can I store Kimchi in the fridge?
When stored at the ideal temperature that’s close to the freezing point of 32 F (-1 to 0℃), kimchi will keep for 3 months or more.
If the temperature of your fridge is higher (which is normally the case), it will probably keep for at least a month or more. Kimchi will start to taste just too sour when it starts to go bad – at which point, the best way to eat them is by cooking them by making Kimchi Jjigae, Budae Jjigae, Kimchi soft tofu stew, Kimchi fried rice and of course Kimchi Mari! Kimchi will sometimes go bad – it will have this whitish kind of film when it has been really too long and will also smell very pungently sour. You don’t want to eat it at this stage.
Can I take my Kimchi out from the refrigerator and leave it on the counter again to ripen further?
YES! Whether you have store-bought kimchi or made your own kimchi, you can take Kimchi out of the refrigerator at any time and let it ripen or sour further.
If it’s not ripe enough, it will take a long time to ripen in the fridge.
The whole point about my flow chart above was for people who have store-bought Kimchi. You may think it’s ready to eat because you got it from the store, but many times they are not fully ripe and therefore doesn’t taste as good.
Well, I hope this was helpful. Please share this info so that more people can learn how to ripen Kimchi properly and enjoy it at its best!
Take care,
XOXO
JinJoo
PS – if you want to learn more about Kimjang, here are two posts that teach you all about it!
- Kimjang Day: Part 1- How it’s done – I share my experiences and tips learned while doing Kimjang with my mother-in-law.
- Kimjang Day: Part 2 – Ingredients and Tips
shanshan says
Thanks so much for your quick reply!
Will the kimchi last up to years if i kept it in the freezer? As i am a fan of kimchi and I acutally brought up to 10kg…. hehehe
JinJoo says
10kg! Wow. Unfortunately Kimchi cannot be kept in the freezer. The cabbage will turn mushy when defrosted. And in the fridge, it can probably be kept for months-especially if you don’t ripen it separately. If kept at ideal temperatures (see my post), it can sometimes last almost a year but you may find that there is some white film around it and turns very sour. If this is the case, you can rinse it with water and cook it in a stew or make a pancake(jeon) out of it. Hope it works out for you!
JinJoo says
hi Shan, I recently talked to a friend of mine who swears that her mom purposely put winter kimchi in the freezer to thaw and eat in the summer. I actually searched online and it seems you can freeze it but it will not keep well at all once you defrost it. So most people tend to just eat it right away (freeze single portions) or cook it in stews and fried rice when defrosted. I specifically remembered kimchi not tasting so great after it got frozen outside in the ground at my home growing up but maybe it’s different if you freeze it quickly inside the freezer. So I would recommend that you divide it into small portions, freeze some of it when it’s just ripe enough and eat it later. Guess you learn something new everyday!
shanshan says
thanks alot sweet!! it helps heaps =)))
shanshan says
hihi ^^, i just brought handmade kimchi from seoul. I have an enquiry to consult you, hope you can help me.
The question now is, may I know how to I store it? Its being packed in a bag.
I am currently placing it in the refrigerator, however, the packet is starting to bloat up. I am concern that it might explode soon?
I only remember that my tour guide told me that, kimchi have no expiry date, ageing kimchi actually taste better?
I am sorry that I have to trouble you, I tried to surf on the internet, but was unable to find a specific answer. Thank u so much =) [=)]
JinJoo says
Hi!I’d be happy to answer your question – If the bag was packaged properly, it may be OK but yes, it can start to leak or explode so the best thing is to transfer the Kimchi onto a bigger container leaving some room at top for it to expand. Transferring Kimchi will not affect the taste too much, just try to submerge the Kimchi in the juice as much as possible. If stored under ideal conditions, one could say there is no expiration date but as I write in my post, it can go bad after couple months or so..or it may just start to taste a little too sour for your taste. Follow my chart on how to ferment your Kimchi and it should work out fine for you. Let me know if you have any more questions and good luck!
Omni Noms says
Finally! Someone who owns a kimchee fridge. The Blogosphere seems to filled with RSS-pirates autoblogging Dimchae machine-translated propaganda, sigh.
Kimchee fridge: Do want. Any pointers wrt to reliable brands/must have features? I would like to use the fridge for more than kimchee. I plan on sticking an ultrasonic humidifier in a compartment to execute a user-programmable “recipe” for cheese/charcuterie. Cave 2.0 yeah? I wonder how condensation is managed? Hmm, I could trigger cold weather mushroom fruiting from spawn with that setup. Interesting.
JinJoo says
I don’t have a whole lot of info on the different brands but I have owned a Dimchae myself for over 10 years now and have been working perfectly for me. So I’m a fan. Using a kimchi fridge as a cheese cave – what a neat idea! I think it may just work!! I think if you use the ‘ripening’ temp, it may be just warm enough. The “direct cooling” type cools the walls so ice does form on the walls after a while and I don’t think there’s any control for it. Users will have to just defrost or wipe up the excess moisture every now and then. But compared to the standard fridge, it will def. be more humid. Mushroom fruiting?? wow..you really have some interesting ideas..would love to hear about it if you succeed!
OmniNoms says
Thanks for the information!
How much control do you have over the fermentation variables [time(s)@temperature(s)]?
Can I program my own fermentation profile? Phase 1: X days at Y Temperature; …Phase 5: D hours at P Temperature etc?
I don’t suppose any of these units have data logging. Arduino modules could capture cave state. It may be cheaper to simply make my own arduino controlled fridge from a chest freezer so that I know that I can drop the temperature when needed. Hmm, interesting stuff.
JinJoo says
I searched a bit and it doesn’t look like these fridges have data logging or programming capabilities. It’s a very neat idea though. The newer ones have different compartments for different uses (kimchi, vegetables, drinks, etc) and they even have different settings for keeping kimchi crisper in the summer. There are also ones that say it can detect how often the doors have been opened, etc to automatically adjust the temperature. Looks like you certainly have the right idea and knowledge to make your own arduino controlled fridge – so go for it!
juni says
lol! i like how you presented the kimchi making process in the style of a systems flowchart diagram! brilliant !! 😀 (am also of software engineering background like yourself)
i’m thinking of starting up a small business selling 삼각김밥 here in the UK. Do you think that could be a viable business? I was in Seoul for 3 months this summer and fell totally in love with this snack and wondered if it’ll be well received here in a western society.(seaweed is still an acquired taste to many here i suppose?) I am guessing with your Korean food site, you might have come across many a different take on the reception of Korean food in the western cultures? What do you reckon? 🙂
JinJoo says
Soooo glad to know that there’s someone who appreciated my flowchart effort. 😉 Thank you so much. 삼각김밥 business sounds very exciting! I’m not sure though about how well it would be received in the UK. In the US, I think the reception is different based on where you are located. Big city areas are quite receptive to International cuisine whereas the more rural areas are not as open. In terms of seaweed, I think you can certainly give people an option to eat the rice without seaweed if they don’t want to. But if people are used to Sushi, they should certainly be used to eating seaweed – no? Good luck!
Judith Haemmerle says
Thank you so much for this post. I’ve been making my own kimchi for a couple of months, and most of what I’ve read didn’t come together and make sense at all – like the recipes that say it will last for months, and the almost identical recipes that say it lasts a few weeks. Now I understand the conflicting statements. I’m making another batch tomorrow! It’s clear that small, frequent batches will be the key to always having great kimchi to eat – at least until I win the lottery and get a kimchi fridge. They all seem to cost about $1000, right? Well, I can dream. Thanks again. Brilliant post.
JinJoo says
Thank you! And so glad that you are making your own kimchi! It’s been a while since I bought my kimchi fridge but yes, it looks like they all cost $900 and up. sometimes Korean markets have sales of older models, hopefully you can get a good deal that way.