Fermentation Support Forum

I'm 48 hours into the fermentation of my first batch of Kimchi.

It smells great and it's producing a lot of gas so I'm pretty sure fermentation is working well.

But on tasting, the cabbage (Savoy) itself seems just like raw cabbage and doesn't seem to have absorbed the flavour of the paste I made very much at all.

Commercial Kimchi I've had in the past the cabbage is soft and very very flavoursome.

Do I just need to wait considerably longer, did I use the wrong type of cabbage, or?

TY!

I start thinking of kimchi as edible (not really, but maybe "done") after three weeks. It continues to develop flavor for six months or more and stays good for a lot longer than that.

So yeah, 48 hours is nothing. I do suggest that you taste it every day or two when you're new to fermenting so that you get a sense for how it's changing.

Also, I've never used savoy. Napa is the most normal kimchi cabbage. But I'm sure it'll be fine (even if you ultimately decide it isn't ideal).

OK thank you!!

Kimchi is "normally" not made with regular cabbage. Napa Cabbage has a lots of soft leaves and a lot of green and draws in a lot of the paste which makes it very flavorful. Also radish is quite porous and makes a great Kimchi .Kohlrabi Kimchi is my favorite. To me ,Kimchi isn't Sauerkraut and does not ferment in the same way. Kimchi is much quicker and is pretty done in 5 days or so. It will develop for months on end(in the fridge) but I put it in the fridge within a week.
Just leave your savoy for awhile and I'm sure it will be tasty. Next time try it with Napa or with Daikon radish and taste it every day after 4 days.

What they said. Two days is just getting the fermentation started. I’ve got a batch of half sour pickles going that smell like marvelous cucumbers after three days. Fermentation is an exercise in patience.

I've always been curious about Kimchi, and have wanted to make a batch for a long time, but one thing always bothers me, and I have never done it.

I am used to sauerkraut and starting with a good 2-2.5% brine. But kimchi recipes that I have seen all say to rinse the cabbage leaves of salt before adding the sauce and packing it into jars, so it seems like there is very little salt to protect the ferment from undesirable bacteria before fermentation can really get started.

How is it that the fermentation is kept safe in the absence of salt?

Thanks!

I brine my stuff for a day and then pour the brine off but don't rinse it. It seems to be fine like that.