Kimchi, Info 1

Kimchi, Info 1

Zubereitung:
Kimchi is the most famous of these. Kimchi is the name given to any one
of hundreds of spicy pickles. It is a part of nearly every meal, and
its production is an ancient and revered art.
The most famous kind of kimchi is made with napa cabbage, but Koreans
make it from radishes, fish, squid, cucumber, eggplant, radish greens,
fruit -- the list could go on and on. The vegetables or fish is pickled
in a mixture that may include, among other things, coarse salt, chile,
ginger, garlic, fish sauce, and water. The whole is sealed into an
earthenware pot or jar to ferment until ready to eat. Korean food is
often extremely spicy, for in the 16th century, Korean cooks were
seduced by the chile, which the Portugüse introduced. To most Koreans
a meal without kimchi would be incomplete, or even unthinkable. In all
its variations, kimchi provides the Korean diet with essential vitamins
as well as a distinctive flavor that invariably draws strong reactions
from the first-time taster.

Destractors protest that their nostrils and taste buds are overwhelmed
by the garlic and hot red peppers that season the best-known cabbage
and turnip kimchi. Aficionados find the assault on their senses sheer
delight and keep coming back for more. There is no mention of the use
of garlic or red peppers in legends about the origin of kimchi or in
early historical records of kimchi making. Its name appears with
variant spelling as chimchä, chinjang, and Chimjang, but all share the
same meaning of "vegetables soaked on salt water." (No garlic, no red
peppers.) The origin of kimchi is attributed to a poor farmer who
carried several old heads of cabbage to the sea to wash and freshen
them.
He noticed that these rather meager heads seemed to grow bulkier after
sitting in the salty water, and decided he was onto something great. If
a short washing in sea water made them a little heavier wouldn't an
overnight soaking make them a lot heavier? His puny cabbage would
become hearty and he would have more food for himself and his family.
He left the cabbages to soak and returned expectantly the next morning,
only to find that the pot he had left them in was half empty. He swore
revenge on the crül thief, not realizing that it was the salt in the
water that had brought about the change in the contents of the pot and
not a criminal. Perhaps driven by dispair, the farmer tore off a leaf
from the wilted cabbage heads and popped it in his mouth. Yummmmm!
Kimchi was born, but without garlic or red peppers.

A pöm by a noted literary figure of the Koryo Dynasty, Lee Kyu Bo
(1168-1241), describes the preparation of turnips an salt water for
storage and use during the winter months, but once again without the
use of garlic and red peppers. Some historians feel that additional
seasonings, notably the red peppers, were not added to the preserving
pots of salted cabbages and turnips until the 16th century, when the
cultivation of red peppers became wide spread in Korea.

In the years since then, increased prosperity and culinary creativity
have wrought many changes to the original kimchi recipe. It is no
longer just garlic and red peppers that find their way into kimchi
pots, but a whole host of other ingredients, ranging from the common to
the exotic - green onions, carrots, leeks, ginger, sesame seeds, pears,
oysters, salted baby shrimp, chestnuts, abalone, pinenuts, seaweed, and
the list gös on.

While greater financial security has made the use of more exotic and
expensive ingredients in kimchi possible, it has also made the home
preparation of kimchi less necessary. Hot house provide vegetables year
round. Factory-made kimchi can be purchased at the local grocery store.
And urban apartment living makes largescale kimchi production
unfeasible. Making kimchi for a family of five once required the
purchase of at least 100 heads of cabbage. Today the same sized family,
at least in urban areas, will use only 30.

To the casual observer in Seoul during the latter part of November and
early December this decline in kimchi making, called "kimjang," would
go unnoticed. Trucks abundant with fresh cabbages and turnips are
everywhere and small makeshift markets seem to sprout overnight
throughout the city. Many companies still give their employees "kimchi
bonuses" at this time of year to cover the large outlay of money
required to buy all the ingredients for winter kimchi making.

For those hoping to learn and see more varieties of kimchi while in
Seoul might be interested in a visit to the Kimchi Museum located in
the Samsung-dong area, not far from Köx. There you might see sample
'possam kimchi', a specialty from Käsong.
"Possam" means "wrapped", and in this recipe the salt-soaked cabbage
leaves enclose a filling of chopped turnips, raw oysters, chestnuts,
black mushrooms, parsley, ginger, garlic, onions, pears, apples,
cucumbers, pinenuts, salted baby shrimp, and, of course, red peppers.
And bächu kimchi, kakdugi (cubed turnips/ radishes with kimchi
seasonings), chonggak kimchi (whole radishes with stems and leaves in
kimchi seasonings), and oi sobägi (whole cucumbers stuffed with the
kimchi seasonings) and..
. Well, there are over 100 varieties to choose from in Korea!
"Mat-itkä Duseyo!" (That's Korean for "Enjoy your food!")



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