Lacto-Ferment - Kimchi

I was really excited when I saw Kimchi on the list of ferments to make.  My daughter and son in law took me to  Korean restaurant in their city last year and it was my first exposure to Kimchi.  I took it slow as it was a new and unusual taste and texture in my mouth and quite strong, somehow I knew I  was going to love it and kept adding it on my plate.   I have to say it was easier to make than I expected and had more brine than I could manage.  I'm excited to share the experience.

Ferment Type - Lacto- Ferment - Kimchi
Date - November 11, 2017
Ingredients
Napa Cabbage 3/4 pound
1 carrot
1/4 Cup daikon radish
3 Tablespoons chopped onion
1 Tablespoon ginger
1 clove garlic
1 Tablespoon red chili flakes (less or more if desired)


Notes - the smell when you are making this is so powerful and amazing.  I really had a lot of brine as I pressed everything down into my jar.  I used a Pickl-It Jar with an airlock.  Later on I made my own airlocks and used mason jars , it was a fun DIY project with my drill and stoppers. You'll see them later on . I really tried to make all the ferments on a low budget to see if I can encourage others to ferment without adding extra expense and gadgets if they didn't want to and possibly make the thought of fermenting complicated by having to buy more kitchen items.  It would be great to have them but it was fun using the basics.  I loved the colours of kimchi and how they got richer as they sat on my counter and the end product was amazing. Which I realize I didn't show once I took it out of the fermenting jar.  I put it in smaller jars, there was so much I shared it with family and friends and went on to make more!

Modifications: Next batch I will watch how far I filled up the jar as I made it a bit high and the brine pushed up the airlock the 2nd day - so I had to clean it out, remove a bit of brine and reseal it. My photos show the overflow.  After making Sauerkraut and feeling like I didn't have enough brine - this made up for it and then some.

Harvest date - November 16th, 2017
Harvest details: It was delicious and smelled amazing, was crunchy and perfect!