https://www.tiktok.com/@seatvmusic
In winter, it is made by mixing vegetables with salt and salted fish. In the traditional society, the kimchi jar was buried in the ground to be aged, but in modern times, it is stored in a kimchi refrigerator using this principle to be aged. Because of this background, the kimchi refrigerator is a unique invention of Korea. However, there is a big difference in taste between kimchi that is actually aged by burying it in the ground and kimchi that is aged in the kimchi refrigerator.
Most importantly, cabbage kimchi cannot be made properly unless it is a cabbage grown in mainland Korea, that is, a Korean cabbage that is ripening as the four seasons change. Some restaurants in Korea use Chinese kimchi because of its low price, but the difference between Chinese and domestic is clear.
It is a food with a wide spectrum of taste because the degree of ripening is very fine and diverse. That's why opinions differ a lot depending on the taste of the same kimchi. Cooked and not cooked, the reviews vary depending on the likes and dislikes, and the level of taste itself varies from home to home or business. Delicious places are really delicious, but those places are tasteless enough to just sprinkle salt with cabbage.
Some old women all over the region even use high-end chili powder, expensive seafood, brisket broth, and glutinous rice paste to make kimchi, saying, "I don't save money when I make kimchi." This can be related to pre-modern life, and in some areas, even grandparents' generations and parents' generations in their 40s and 50s rarely had refrigerators in each house. In other words, kimchi was a preserved food that had to be stored and eaten for a year, so if you save the seasoning, you can spoil it, and because you had to eat it the most often, you put the most effort into it. Of course, even in modern times when that's not necessary, there are cases where people don't save money for reasons such as just being delicious. Seasoning is a key factor in determining the taste of kimchi to that extent. Other than that, there is only pickling of cabbage.
The kimchi-flavored white rice is produced only when it is sufficiently matured. It varies slightly depending on how you make it and the ingredients, but when fermentation begins, soup is formed and small bubbles rise on it. When this just started, it is described as "Kimchi is crazy," and after this stage, it becomes ripe kimchi. Ripe kimchi has a fruit-like, sweet and sour taste, and it is equipped with omis, realizing the ideal of Korean .
Of course, there are many people who prefer freshly dipped kimchi. It is not a raw cabbage at all because it uses cabbage that has been somewhat aged in salt water, whereas it has the crunch and seasoning itself rather than the umami caused by aging.
Lactic acid is produced in a crazy state to give it a refreshing sour taste. Lactic acid bacteria are called bacteria that make lactic acid in the first place. Lactic acid is added to the mass-produced kimchi process. In addition, salted fish are added from the time kimchi is made and amino acids are produced during the fermentation process, giving it a unique flavor. Well-fermented kimchi gives off a carbonation that pops like drinking cider.