Fall harvest treats

[brewerpaul]

After spending the summer canning, eating and cooking with tomatoes and all the other fresh farmers market goodies I now turn my efforts to the fall harvest. Apples of all varieties are being presented by our local growers. From tart to sweet to pie apples you can treat your tastebuds to summers growing efforts. Greens and root crops still abound along with a few late season watermelon. Winter squash and sweet potatoes find their way to my cellar for winter eating. One of my favorite items to buy, in large quantities, is Napa cabbage. These are the large rugby football shaped cabbage that are grown by a Korean woman we have bought from for years. She knows me first by the fact I make Kim Chi, second by the fact Im the only person that shops the Saturday farmers market in my Kilt. Napa cabbage comes into season in fall, unlike the spring/early summer round savoy and green cabbage I use for saurkraut. By the time it is over I will put up 5-6 5 gallon crocks of Kim Chi that will fill about 70 quarts. This will get Jennifer and me through the winter with fresh cabbage and the great benefits of fermented food. This by far is one of the best ways to get probiotics and other goodies. Great straight out of the jar or mixed in stir fry. Crock one of 2 put up today and ready for the cellar. I use the same crocks for saurkraut and open fermenting ale. Gotta love the microbes that make our food and drink so good.


For those who dont know what Kim Chi is it is Napa cabbage put up with salt and coarse ground red pepper. Some versions have everything from oysters, fish, fish oil, garlic, leeks, onion, etc. Kim Chi is made by individuals and each person puts their unique spin to it. Mine is mad with Napa cabbage, salt and coarse red pepper. Jennifer doesnt like fish oil so I save that for myself. Photo to prove my fermentation abilities. Kim Chi.

[MacEanruig]

Sir, I love Kimchi in many variations such as, cucumber, cabbage, etc. I lived in Korea for seven years. It is an acquired taste, however.

[Tarheel]

Being a fanatic of my Dad's mothers hot relish (Chow-Chow) it was called for an old German recipe, I tried Kimchi for the first time when a fellow soldier (Korean by birth) fermented some behind our barracks in buried jars. After two months he announced the tasting event. We were ordered out of the building for several reasons, (smell being the first) and opened the jars in the yard. I retched but took a bite, I retched but chewed and swallowed, I retched, he laughed, I cried, he laughed and we finished half the jar. My last Kimchi experience. I like Chow-Chow better.

[brewerpaul]

Being a fanatic of my Dad's mothers hot relish (Chow-Chow) it was called for an old German recipe, I tried Kimchi for the first time when a fellow soldier (Korean by birth) fermented some behind our barracks in buried jars. After two months he announced the tasting event. We were ordered out of the building for several reasons, (smell being the first) and opened the jars in the yard. I retched but took a bite, I retched but chewed and swallowed, I retched, he laughed, I cried, he laughed and we finished half the jar. My last Kimchi experience. I like Chow-Chow better.

Yes Kim Chi can be quite an experience and your experience sounds quite special. I've never burried mine in the yard though Ive been tempted to buy the traditional Kim Chi pots and do they traditional burried pot. Right now, as I have the last 8 years, I just salt and red pepper mine and crunch it into my crocks. I put a plate on it and half gallon jug full of water for weight and cover with a towel. My basement stays 70 degrees or cooler so it makes for a good controlled fermentation. I try to let mine go for a month, too much longer and the scum on top might contaminate the goodies. Once in quart jars I just put it fresh into the fridge and keep it there. It stays alive, still fermenting, and quite good for a year. Ive never tried to hot bath it like I do saurkraut. I have heard that pot luck gathering of Korean families means a variety of Kim Chi, each one different depending on how the family makes it. Food is always such a wonderful adventure.

[Tarheel]

The fermentation takes longer for Kimchi in the ambient ground temperature and my grandmother used a large basalt river rock to weight her cabbage down when steeping "hot bath" her cabbage for chow-chow. She said it added to the flavor and provided minerals. I was young, but still have the rock and use it because she did. I make a fine batch of Collards or Creasey greens for Thanksgiving feasts.