SALTY CABBAGE
Bringing kimchee to the masses
During the past four years, Kailyn Chun has made a lot of kimchee.
“I had to make kimchee with 50 pounds of cabbage, four times a week,” she says with a laugh about her time creating the fermented dish at the Ma Dang Goul (MDG) Korean restaurant in Vancouver.
While Chun’s formal introduction to kimchee crafting actually started before she got married, with her mom teaching her in their home kitchen, once she began overseeing the operations at Ma Dang Goul, her experience with the traditional side dish was increased. Exponentially.
“The biggest batch I had made was a four-litre bucket,” Chun says of her previous experience. “Kimchee was the most popular side dish in the restaurant and people always asked for refills two or three times in one sitting — sometimes 50 pounds of cabbage didn’t last even three days.”
Kimchee is made with salted and fermented vegetables, such as Korean radish and napa cabbage, that are first soaked in a briny solution and then mixed with seasonings such as garlic, chili pepper and other ingredients. While napa cabbage kimchee is considered to be a classic, according to Chun, there are more than 150 kinds of kimchee from different regions in Korea. The unique blend of ingredients make each batch of kimchee its own. But, one thing that’s consistent with each offering of kimchee is its status as a celebrated superfood thanks to the presence of “healthy bacteria” in the dish due to the fermentation of the vegetables, as well as probiotics and vitamins A, B and C.
While common — it can be found on many menus and in a wide variety of dishes in Korean cuisine and beyond — crafting the perfect kimchee can be a lesson in patience, and perseverance.
“It truly is hard work because there are a lot of steps. If you do it the proper way, it takes about six hours to soak cabbages in salt,” Chun says. “The amount of salt is really important as well because only the right amount will get you the right flavour and gets properly fermented. It is also tricky to balance all spices because any one flavour cannot stand out in good kimchee. Having too much of one ingredient will also affect the shelf life, texture, taste, bacteria and vitamin level of kimchee and could delay or speed up the fermentation period.”
The level of difficulty, according to Chun, is making the act of creating kimchee a bit of a dying culinary art.
“Many people, including the young Korean generation, don’t make kimchee anymore because there is a lot of preparation to be done and it’s difficult to keep good balance in taste,” she says. “There is no recipe for a perfect kimchee, it is achieved over time and with many tries.”
At first, Chun says the kimchee she crafted at Ma Dang Goul failed to “get any attention.”
“Sometimes, I would put too much radish and end up with too much juice. The next time I wanted less juice, so I put more chili pepper and it turned out too spicy. Then I added more sugar to reduce the spiciness and the kimchee ended up really sticky and mushy,” she says.
But, after a few months of trial and error, playing with the recipe to get it just right, Chun says she “mastered” a kimchee recipe that became a big hit with the restaurant’s regulars.
“We had many regular customers from all over the Lower Mainland who came to buy kimchee on a regular basis,” she says. “At one point, we had to stop selling them because I couldn’t keep up with the demand.”
At first, Chun planned to open an online shop just for the kimchee, but she ended up leaving the restaurant altogether to start a new business. And that business is why Chun is about to make a whole lot more kimchee in the coming years.
Chun is the mastermind behind the new small-batch kimchee company called Salty Cabbage. Made at Coho Commissary on Powell Street with fresh produce largely sourced from local grocery stores, the company aims to offer “authentic Korean kimchee” that takes the dish above and beyond what can typically be found among store-bought options.
“We pick up fresh produce just before we make a new batch and we go for local produce whenever they are available. Every batch is hand-chopped and hand-mixed and there are no additives and preservatives used in our products,” Chun says. “We do use sugar, but only a minimal amount. We maximize natural sweetness by using apple, pear, radish and onion.
“If you read the labels on storebought kimchee, you might see names that you are not familiar with. Read any of our products labels, even preschool kids will know exactly what we put in the jar. And, because we use lots of vegetables, fruits and natural spices, it stays crispy and refreshing after it gets fermented.”
According to Chun, MDG is under new ownership and doesn’t use Salty Cabbage kimchee, but many of her fans from the restaurant have already taken to her new creations.
“It’s amazing to get those kinds of support and love when you run a startup business,” she says.
In addition to boasting a fresh flavour, Chun says people are appreciative of the modern packaging, which was designed by Glasfurd and Walker, that the kimchee comes bottled in.
“We wanted to show people that kimchee could look modern and trendy while keeping the authentic taste,” Chun says. “It is ... unlike other packaging in stores with boring pictures that remind you of Korea in the ’60s.”
Salty Cabbage boasts three different kinds of kimchee: Classic Napa, Radish and White Kimchi, as well as a vegan option.
“Our vegan kimchee has the same crisp texture and all the aroma you could get from regular kimchee,” she says. “It could also be a great alternative for people looking for less sodium in fermented vegetables since it does not contain fish sauce and shrimp paste.”
Salty Cabbage products are currently available at select local grocery stores, including Meinhardt Fine Foods, Federal Store Luncheonette & Grocer, and West Wood Organics, as well as online at saltycabbagekimchi.com. The products are being used at several restaurants in the city, including Sing Sing Beer Bar and the Blackbird Public House.
While Chun says she plans to increase availability in the future, she’s not looking to grow the business too quickly.
“I value quality over quantity, so knowing how much I can produce to maintain the good quality is very important,” she says of the strategy.
And, in the meantime, Chun will be busy in the commissary, mixing up her next Salty Cabbage kimchee combination, one big batch at a time.
“My favourite part is mixing all ingredients together in a large stainless bowl,” she says. “It’s a huge arm workout and leaves my shoulder sore every night, but the aroma makes me hungry. Every time.”