My First Kimchi

I've been curious to try my hand at kimchi. Strangely, though, I've never tasted it before. I've just never had the drive to go to a Korean restaurant or to buy a jar of kimchi at the store. After reading a few recipes, I settled on one I found on the Kitchn blog here. I used granulated kelp instead of fish sauce so mine is vegan. I also used three tablespoons of the Korean red pepper flakes.

Here's what the batch looked like on day one. BTW, I highly recommend wearing gloves when mixing up the ingredients. 

The kimchi was VERY fragrant and smelled up the whole kitchen. I tried putting the jars in a ziplock freezer bag, but the smell still got through. It was kind of fascinating to see the bag inflate a little and to see condensation on the inside every morning.

This is what the kimchi looked like after seven days. It tasted pretty good. The recipe recommends letting it sit in the fridge for another week for best results. I put the jars in three ziplock freezer bags (and filled one of them with a bunch of baking soda), but the smell still got through and stunk up the fridge (this is not unlike having dill in your fridge, though one good bag will usually protect the fridge).

Now the kimchi is sitting in a cooler on the front porch. I swap out ice packs two times a day. This is day eleven and the kimchi tastes even better. The flavors are melding more and there is still a nice crunch.

UPDATE: 8/22/2013
Some friends who have made and eaten way more kimchi than I have tasted my kimchi on day eighteen. They liked the crunch and general flavor but said it could use more salt. I had been wondering about the salt level and feared I had used too much water when soaking the cabbage (and had diluted the saltiness). I added about a teaspoon of salt to the batch and mixed it thoroughly. The flavor improved significantly!

FAVORITE FLAVOR PAIRINGS:
Hummus and kimchi
Using kimchi instead of salsa on tacos