That looks good! I’m not vegan but out of curiosity, what makes regular kimchi not vegan? I’m just wondering. I want to try to make kimchi soon. I’m a total newbie as I’ve never made it, so forgive my ignorance 
Not Ttrock obv, but regular kimchi has dried shrimp or anchovy sauce which is left out of vegan kimchi. I know this because I have a shellfish allergy so label-reading is a way of life for me.
What gretchen said, always fishy stuff in it so not even vegetarian.
The brand mother in law makes great vegan kimchi, but yeah it’s $$ for little jars and i looooovvveee the stuff!
Thanks for the info. I knew the answer was something easy but I couldn’t think of what it was. So I’ve decided to to try this after being inspired by this thread.
What size mason jars do you think I should buy? Forgive my newbie questions. I was looking at 32 or 64oz jars and wanted to try some sight variations on heat and ingredients so I’m not really sure. If I should start small or just go big front the start.
Roughly how many cabbages will fit into each size? I realize there are variables like the cabbage size and how hard you pack it, but just a ball park is what I’m looking for. This should be a fun experiment 
thanks all
Not mason jars!
kimchi needs a serious airtight container… there’s a reason many korean households have a separate fridge for kimchi ;)) This kind with the snap lid works well, no fragrant fridge problems!
I would say make one small-er batch kimchi to start, the maangchi site has several recipes- note her recipes tend to be spicy! The videos i find very helpful too. Note the quantity though, one of the kimchi recipes is with 10lbs of nappa cabbage (!!) so to start i would do 1/4 batch of that one, or another with about 3lbs cabbage size which still makes a lot.
You can use these for mason jars:
Or these:
In my experience, Maangchi’s recipes work well as long as you don’t substitute anything.
3 Likes
White kimchi is “done”! You can see all the happy little bubbles , there’s a little fizz to the broth. And it’s certainly fragrant! I cut it into smaller pieces and packed up into containers, will certainly be sharing with friends too.
The fermented green beans also came out nicely, took almost two weeks to get to a slightly funky yet still firm/tender texture. Very snackable.
This was the jar with radish slices in the bottom so the color dulled a bit
4 Likes
About what temperature is your apartment when you are away for the work week?
What are the seed looking things at the bottom of the green beans?
Kim-chi looks fab!
Not really sure, no thermometer inside, probably very low 60s…
the green beans had fennel seeds, black peppercorns and some dill that ended up floating. I can taste more fennel than dill in the finished green beans.
Thanks! During the winter I keep my place in the low 60s during the day and had wondered if it would be a workable temperature for fermentation.
I’m going to try kimchi maybe Sunday. I keep my place rather cool and around 60. I like it cool so I will report back. My Korean chili should be here tomorrow and I plan to pick up cabbage tomorrow or Sunday so wish me luck. This thread inspired me to try it. This will be my first attempt at kimchi
2 Likes
Fermentation happens at temperatures between 32 & 212 degrees. Colder = slower & hotter = faster. Temperatures in the 60s are pretty much ideal.
3 Likes
Very workable! Only issue i have had is my kombucha can take for-ev-er in the winter, so i bought a “seedling mat” which is like a very low level heating pad that i turn on for a few hours or overnight and then off which helps keep the temp in the 70s.
1 Like
Fun!! It’s a really easy process, just takes a lot of chopping
Ugh.
Beet kvass was an Epic Fail. It went moldy!
Definitely my own fault, although not sure if it was because I didn’t seal the container or due to the added pear…? Anyways, total ick and may be a while before i try again
How long did you ferment it?
Just shy of two weeks. There’s a photo of what it looked like when i started it upthread. Gonna spare everyone the visual of what happened 
From what i read about 10days sounded right but dunno if the few extra days are what made this go wrong…? I wasn’t home mon-fri last week so couldn’t check it regularly. Also why I didn’t totally seal the container, didn’t want it to bust and wasn’t able to “burp” it regularly
Most of the kvass recipes I read it seemed like a short ferment. Like a couple days? There is a lot of sugar in beets so I would expect it to move pretty quick.
I have read a recipe that calls for a few days of fermentation, but it also calls for sourkraut juice. Another recipe I have read, just beets, salt, water, ginger and turmeric, says that the fermentation will take two weeks.
