Things I Love: Kimchi!

I love Kimchi. Even typing the word makes my mouth water.

From Wikipedia:
"Kimchi, also spelled gimchi or kimchee, is a traditional Korean fermented dish made of some select vegetables with varied seasonings, most commonly referring to the spicy baechu variety. Kimchi is the most common Korean banchan, or side dish, eaten with rice along with other banchan dishes. Kimchi is also a common ingredient and cooked with other ingredients to make dishes such as kimchi stew (kimchi jjigae) and kimchi fried rice (kimchi bokkeumbap). Kimchi often tastes better with age.



Kimchi is made of various vegetables and contains a high concentration of dietary fiber, while being low in calories. It also provides up to 80% of the daily required amount of ascorbic acid and carotene. Most types of kimchi contain common ingredients like onions, garlic and peppers all of which have well-known health benefits. The vegetables being made into kimchi also contribute to the overall nutritional value. Kimchi is rich in vitamin A, thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), calcium and iron,[9][10] and contains a number of lactic acid bacteria. In 2000, a novel bacteriocin-producing lactic acid bacterium (strain MT-1077T) was isolated from Kimchi and was named Lactobacillus kimchi.



Kimchi has a reputation of being a healthy food. The US magazine Health named kimchi in its list of top five "World's Healthiest Foods" for being rich in vitamins, aiding digestion, and even possibly retarding cancer growth. However, some research focused on high-sodium dietary dependence has found overconsumption of kimchi and soybean paste ( hangul: 된장 similar to miso ) to be a risk factor in gastric cancer (most likely due to nitrates and salt) while unfermented alliums and unfermented seafood were found to be protective factors. One oncological study found one type of kimchi to be a protective factor against gastric cancer while two other types of such high-sodium kimchi as dongchimi (hangul: 동치미) were risk factors.



Here's how to make your own:




A few simple ingredients and a modest outlay of time and you're but a heartbeat away from supreme deliciousness.

If you've never had kimchi, make today the day!

Enjoy.


-J

p.s.