I think Annandale Virginia is the best place in this hemisphere to buy Kimchi. However, even the best mass produced kimchi is nothing on the stuff made by gray haired Korean ladies, and buried out back for a few months. We had a housekeeper at work, named Yom, who made the best Kimchi I ever ate, but I will admit that my roommates required that I eat it outdoors. I just cannot describe either the taste, or aroma of this incredible dish. Well, I can, but the description doesn’t sound good, and kimchi is good, so the words must not be right.
Spiced compost ain’t entirely wrong, you see. But that doesn’t quite include the incredible pickle dimension all that well. And, you have to add in a range of age variation that is best characterized as “sharpness” for the squeamish, or redolence for the more tolerant. If your kimchi doesn’t offend someone with its aroma, it ain’t the really good stuff.
If you get the fresh stuff, you really have to let it ripen for a while, although you are going to nibble on it now and again, as it makes it’s way up the “is it ready?” scale. Mostly, you won’t have enough left to share, by the time it gets really good. Outdoor storage has its advantages, in the winter. Summer, you have to bury the stuff, or it goes bad fairly fast. However, if it ain’t actually slimy, it’s probably still good. My former roommate, who pretty much flirted non stop with Yom, used to keep his in a cooler, on the back porch, and threw in one of those blue Ice packs in hot weather. It seemed to work, except the neighbors complained if he opened it up during the day.
If cabbage gives you gas, you can pretty much blow out the doors of your bedroom on kimchi.
Tris
