Kimchi is a Korean vegetable dish that I make from cabbage. It’s spicey and salty and crunchy, and I think it’s totally delicious. But the thing that makes kimchi a walk on the wild side for me is how it’s prepared: kimchi is made from rotten vegetables.
Okay, they’re not rotten when I start, but they’ve definitely begun fermenting by the time I’m finished.
Kimchi is made by soaking cabbage (and any other fruits or vegetables I might care to add) in salt water for 8 hours. Then I add spices, pack it all into a jar with a lid, and leave it sit out—unrefrigerated—for a day or so. This is the part that makes me feel brave. Do you know what a bacterium can do with 24 hours?
Once it’s done rotting on the countertop it goes into the fridge, possibly for days but at least until cold. Mmm…cold, crisp, salty, kimchi.
Yep…cold, crisp, salty, bacteria-infested kimchi. That makes this Milquetoast a wild man. Yum.