Re: Heidi...kimchi expert!, I need some advise.

[Guest guest]

>Hey Heidi! I am about to start my second batch of kimchi using your

>great recipe and my brand new Harsch Crock.

Congrats! I LOVE my Harsch! Best B'day present I've had in a long time

(or, most used!).

>The first time I made

>kimchi, I salted the napa cabbage and let it wilt. Then I rinsed

>the cabbage off...decided that was not a good idea so I salted the

>rest of the vegies as well. It was wayyyy too salty. (I am used to

>the amount of salt for sauerkraut.)I fed it to my chickens... So my

>question is, do you leave the salt on the initial salting of the

>napa cabbage? And/or could you help me out on the salt thing?

Rule of thumb, you should end up with about 2 T of salt in the crock.

Regardless of where it comes from. When you salt cabbage, it absorbs a lot

of it, so rinsing it just gets rid of the extra, which is pretty much what the

Koreans do. But they often add ground salted shrimp to the recipe too.

All in all, when you are done, it should taste slightly salty, like a good soup.

If it is too salty, rinse it and add more chili powder. I have found that the

taste

method works as well as anything, though I made a batch of kraut by using a

recipe,

measuring 5 lbs of cabbage and 2 T salt (exactly) and that came out fine too.

Really, it is very forgiving. I had some salted Napa sitting out on the counter

for 3

days because of family issues ... and it started turning into kimchi all by

itself.

But yes, for a direct answer -- I rinse the cabbage. I add some ground salted

shrimp,

and other ingredients, and a bit of sugar (to feed the bacteria, but it likely

isn't needed).

I usually add more salt on top of the " covering " cabbage leaves, so they don't

mold, and a little vinegar and/or kimchi juice too. This is likely paranoia on

my

part. You should salt the leaves on top though a little (whether or not you

rinse them) because

mold is just non-appetizing.

> By

>the way, I went to my local oriental grocery store and I found all

>the Korean things you recomend in your recipe! Thanks, Judy

I think oriental groceries are just good to do. Aren't they fun? I took a lady

there who didn't want

to " go by herself " . It was a blast. I think we should start " kimchi parties " --

we all go to Paldo World

and get ingredients then make kimchi while snacking on raw beef or something.

>PS more help...how do I go about replying to a message? I get the

>digest form. Thanks!

I don't know how " digests " look -- I get individual emails, in which case my

private

address is at the top and you can cut and paste it. But if you are replying to

the

group, whatever you did seems to have worked just fine!

-- Heidi