Kimchi is most commonly made with Chinese cabbage and radish, mixed with chopped
garlic, green onion, ginger, seasoned with salt, red pepper and sugar, then put
into a jar to "mature." Sometimes bits of oyster, squid or baby shrimp are added
to give it a more pungent taste.
When the mixture starts to ferment in a jar, it bubbles, creating a taste
containing five distinct flavors--hot, sweet, sour, salty and bitter.
Like cheese, what causes kimchi to smell "nasty" is fermentation, Kim says.
It took years to develop a technique that stops fermentation at a crucial time,
she said, by using heat to inactivate microbes.
Though kimchi is considered a side dish, it is the most important element of the
Korean cuisine. Some would venture that kimchi is the elixir of Korean life. To
a Korean, a steaming bowl of pearly white rice and a plate of kimchi constitutes
a complete meal.
Kim envisions a world in which kimchi is as trendy as sushi or salsa. In some
circles it already is, said Hyepin Im, a Korean American venture capitalist who
enjoys introducing her native food to non-Korean colleagues and clients.
"Kimchi has been written up in 'In Style' magazine," she said. "If raw fish can
become trendy, why not kimchi?"
Rich in vitamin C, minerals and fiber, kimchi is a "functional and nutritional
food," Kim said.
She calls kimchi preparation and preservation "mystic wisdom" passed on from
mother to daughter for centuries. "Making kimchi and preserving it is a genuine
science and wisdom," she said.
Kim, a consultant for manufacturer Cheil Jedang, says the firm test-marketed her
kimchi in Los Angeles, New York and Chicago over two years and plans to
introduce it in Europe as well.
As expected, the research found Americans on the West Coast were most familiar
with kimchi.
The evidence of kimchi's four-century role in Korean life is abundant in the
Kimchi Museum in Seoul, where hundreds of varieties of kimchi are documented,
and visitors can watch kimchi-making demonstrations.
Restaurants and grocery stores outside Korea offer at the most three or four
basic types of kimchi--usually made of Chinese cabbage, radish or cucumber. But
kimchi can be made with a variety of vegetables, fruits, nuts and seafood.
A peculiar thing about kimchi is that Koreans don't use recipes. And it tastes
different from home to home. Even if one uses identical ingredients, the way it
is prepared seems to influence the taste.
In a ballad that has survived through the ages, a Korean bachelor sings of a
maiden he wants to marry. She will know how to make tasty kimchi.
Says Kim: "McDonald's in Seoul is now serving a kimchi burger. Kimchi has come
of age."
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