A Cultured Gift—Kimchee

The Kimchee I started last week was harvested today and it came out delicious. So, I decided to write a blog about how I made it.

 First step, I bought the ingredients at a market, Rosemont Market in Portland, Maine. We shop at this market in between Farmers Markets, because they buy directly from local, Maine farmers. We also buy most of our meat from farmers at the local Farmers Market, but we will buy meat from Rosemont Market. The butcher there knows the farmers and knows that they all treat their animals with respect and make sure they eat 100% grass from the pasture. I also am able to talk to farmers at the farmers market and ask them about how they feed their animals. During the cold winters, here in Maine,most grassfed animals will be eating hay grown on the farm.

The ingredients:

1 green cabbage; 

1 red cabbage, I love to include red cabbage. The red/purple phytonutrient                                 adds anthocyanins helps prevent many illnesses from heart disease to                                         cancer, plus it makes my kimchee beautiful!

scallions, also slightly purple, 4 sliced

carrots, an gorgeous crop in Maine, 6 grated

Fresh garlic, 1 whole bulb, sliced in the food processor

ginger, whole raw, buy it whenever you see it at the farmers market,  here it sells out fast and is only available for a short time, I had to buy mine from the health food store, this time, about a 3 inch hunk chopped in large pieces

Celtic sea salt 4 Tablespoons

Cayenne pepper 1/2 teaspoon

Chipotle pepper 1/2 teaspoon

This list of vegetables, which I can buy in the middle of the winter in Maine, allows me to make kimchee, an amazing fermented, delicious vegetable combination. Kimchee and other fermented vegetable combinations like sauerkraut, are filled with healthy bacteria or probiotics. These bacteria help to heal our guts, which may have been  damaged by taking antibiotics or other drugs.  Denny and I will be eating kimchee all winter and beyond. Also, I have found that a lot of the sugars in the vegetables have been eaten up during the fermentation process, which translates into these veggies containing very little carbohydrates. When I eat fermented veggies, like homemade kimchee, my blood sugars are much better controlled.

What kind of conditions can be caused by an unhealthy or damaged guts? Type 1 diabetes is one of the first of the list. Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. All cancers. Pretty much all mental/brain issues including autism spectrum, depression, schizophrenia, ADD, ADHD, OCD, dyslexia etc. Crohn’s disease, and celiac disease. Allergies, all. All autoimmune diseases. This list is incomplete by far and all these conditions can be improved by adding fermented vegetables to one’s diet.

Method:

After all the vegetables are gathered, cut and slice as directed in the ingredient list.

Place all the cut up veggies in a very large bowl.

Add the Salt, cayenne and chipotle. If you like things really hot you can add a little more cayenne and chipotle.

Now, here is where it gets fun, mix it all up with your hands, then kind kneading, and kneading, squeezing and squeezing unttil liquid starts to form in the bowl.

Add the veggies to your crocks, or large bowls. Cover each container with a plate then add weight like a water filled glass jar or large bottle as in the picture.

Let the kimchee sit out on a counter for at least a week. The first time I made kimchee I left it out on the counter in the kitchen. It came out great the next time I made it I placed the crocks over a radiator in the winter because I thought it would be better in the warmth. It still came out great, but it was actually a little dry, so I’ll probably just ot for the counter next time.

After an impatient week of waiting I was alarmed to see some puffy bubbles around the edge of the plate, bravely I decided that was a natural part of the fermentation process, scraped off the bubbly stuff and removed the plates. Oh my, what a beautiful red-violet color! I stirred it up with a large spoon. And tasted it.

How did my Kimchee come out?

Yum! Delicious and spicy! AND the beautiful red violet color makes it look amazing on my plate.

Here’s a picture of my first lunch with my new kimchee.