Enough kimchi for a lifetime of exploration

I'd heard that the HMART had a big selection of kimchi. Which didn't mean a lot to me, since I didn't have much experience with it -- mostly side dishes in Korean restaurants. I knew it was strongly flavored and pungent. I'd also read that it was supposed to be very healthy. That's about it. I remember going to the other big Asian market around here, the Super 88 in Malden, and asking if they had any kimchi, and they gave me a blank stare. The nearby Whole Foods market used to carry some. One or two kinds. A few jars hidden away on an out of the way shelf.

So nothing prepared me for what I encountered at the HMART. A wall of kimchi. In containers ranging from little jars with one pound to buckets with mega-pounds. And you could buy it in bulk too. Here's a quick rundown of what I found:

• Sliced cabbage kimchi.  The "default".  That's what I thought kimchi was before I discovered HMART
• Premium cabbage kimchi, with oyster
• Green onion kimchi
• Cubed radish kimchi
• Sliced radish kimchi
• Young radish kimchi
• Stuffed cucumber kimchi

And more.  Check it out...


I started timidly. With the sliced cabbage kimchi, eating it in little bowls with a fork. It's intense stuff. When I open the lid, Susan looks around for where that foul odor is coming from. "Did you leave the lid off the trash?" she asks. She's right...it is somewhat off-putting.

You need to get past that. Really. Like smelly cheese. Get past it.

Its good spooned into your mouth, eaten as an appetizer or side dish. A combination of acidic and chili-spicy. Hot, but not over the top hot so that you can't feel your tongue. Not nearly so bad as eating raw chili peppers. If you don't like spicy food, you probably won't like your kimchi this way.

The other simple way to use kimchi is as a condiment. Or mix in. Picture Kimchi over eggs. Or, kimchi in an omelet. Or kimchi mixed in your morning oatmeal. Or kimchi just added to a stir fry.  A little or a lot, to your taste.  Simple.

What I've found is that kimchi mixed into other things isn't nearly as intense as by itself.  And kimchi when cooked loses it's intense edge, and adds a nice pungent flavor to things.  So kimchi and eggs or kimchi in a stirfry isn't as intense as you'd think.
So far, I'm pretty happy buying my kimchi from the HMART. I don't know anywhere else that has that kind of variety, but honestly, I haven't ventured down to Boston's Chinatown to find out. That's probably my best bet. Or Koreatown when I'm in New York City, but how often do I go there.

If you're feeling adventurous, you might like trying to MAKE your own kimchi. I found this video from Aeri's Kitchen, a website I've run into many times when searching for advice on things to do with my HMART finds. She has over 14,000 YouTube subscribers! An authority, for sure!



From Aeri's Kitchen YouTube Channel

It looks pretty labor intensive. And I don't think I'll be doing it myself any time soon. But maybe -- if I cut the recipe in half or quarters, it could work for me. Aeri's recipe has a lot in it that I don't think is in the HMART version...like apples.

So that's it for now. The basics. Go get some. Try it out. You might also like this site -- Love that Kimchi.com.  

Here's the complete series of articles on kimchi: 

• Enough kimchi for a lifetime of exploration
• kimchi stew
• kimchi pancakes (stay tuned!)
• and this extra article on the kimchi crisis in Korea

Both are EASY to make, and TERRIFIC to eat.