Kimchi

What makes it kimchi

• Cabbage salted until it bends without breaking.
• Gochugaru, garlic, ginger and salted shrimp or fish sauce.
• Fermented — young for eating, old for cooking.

Where it comes from

Kimchi goes back well over a thousand years as salted vegetables; chillies turned it red much later. Families still make a winter's supply together at kimjang, and most Korean homes keep a separate refrigerator just for it.

It changes as it ages: crisp and bright when young, sour and deep when old — which is when it goes into stews.

How it varies

Kkakdugi

Cubed radish kimchi.

Baek kimchi

White kimchi, without chilli — the older style.