Gochugaru, garlic, ginger, spring onion and jeotgal, worked between the leaves of brined napa cabbage
The paste for the default baechu style; jeotgal is salted fermented seafood, often shrimp or anchovy.
General knowledge · Food & drink
Kimchi
Chilli added from the 17th century; kimjang inscribed by UNESCO in 2013
Food and drink — Korea's lactic fermentation and its national emblem
Korea's salted and fermented vegetable preparation, of which there are said to be nearly two hundred recognised kinds, though the default is baechu made from napa cabbage. The vegetable is brined, then coated with a paste of gochugaru chilli powder, garlic, ginger, spring onion and jeotgal, a salted fermented seafood, and left to ferment by lactic acid bacteria, chiefly Leuconostoc and Lactobacillus. Chilli reached Korea only in the seventeenth century, so the dish was white before it was red. The communal autumn making and sharing, kimjang, was inscribed on UNESCO's intangible heritage list in 2013.
How to spot them
- ▸Gochugaru, garlic, ginger and salted fermented seafood over brined napa cabbage
- ▸The autumn communal making, inscribed by UNESCO in 2013
- ▸Buried earthenware jars, and the specialised refrigerator that replaced them
- ▸It was white before chillies reached Korea in the seventeenth century
- ▸A failed attempt in 2021 to impose a new Chinese name, xinqi
Key facts
The communal autumn making and sharing, inscribed by UNESCO in 2013 (2013)
Kimjang. North Korea's own tradition was separately inscribed in 2015.
Unglazed earthenware jars buried in the ground to hold a steady cool temperature through winter
Onggi. Korean households now overwhelmingly use a dedicated refrigerator instead, sold since 1995.
Leuconostoc mesenteroides starts the fermentation; Lactobacillus takes over and sours it
The same lactic bacteria that make sauerkraut, working in a much saltier, spicier medium.
Chillies arrived in Korea only in the seventeenth century, so the original was white (1600)
Baek-kimchi, the un-reddened kind, is still made; dongchimi is its watery radish cousin.
South Korea's culture ministry pushed the Chinese rendering xinqi in 2021 to stop it being called pao cai (2021)
The coinage failed to catch on in Chinese, as an earlier attempt in 2013 had.
A national day fixed for 22 November: eleven ingredients, twenty-two claimed benefits
Kimchi Day, designated in South Korea in 2020; several American states have since adopted it.
Korean troops in Vietnam prompted a government push for a canned version in the 1960s (1966)
President Park Chung-hee asked the United States for help supplying it to soldiers abroad.
Key ideas
- It is a two-stage preservation: salt first draws out water and suppresses spoilage organisms, then the salt-tolerant lactic bacteria acidify what is left. The chilli, garlic and fermented seafood are flavour and antimicrobial support, not the preservative.
Quick-fire facts
- •The default variety, baechu-kimchi, is made from napa cabbage; kkakdugi uses cubed radish and oi-sobagi stuffed cucumber
- •Gochugaru is Korean chilli powder; jeotgal is salted fermented seafood used as a savoury base
- •Fermentation is driven by lactic acid bacteria, chiefly Leuconostoc mesenteroides and species of Lactobacillus
- •Chilli peppers reached Korea in the seventeenth century, probably via Japan, so earlier forms were white
- •Kimjang, the communal late-autumn making and sharing, was inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List in 2013
- •North Korea's kimchi-making tradition was inscribed separately in 2015
- •South Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism promoted the Chinese rendering xinqi in 2021 to distinguish it from pao cai; the term did not take hold
- •22 November is Kimchi Day in South Korea, designated in 2020; the date is explained as eleven ingredients and twenty-two claimed health benefits
- •The World Institute of Kimchi in Gwangju is a government-funded research body devoted to it
- •South Korea is a large net importer of the product from China by volume, most of it for restaurant use
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Sources
- UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage — Kimjang, making and sharing kimchi in the Republic of Korea
- CNN Travel — Xinqi? Why kimchi is getting a new Chinese name
- Alan Davidson — The Oxford Companion to Food