Kimchi, healthiest food in the world and cooking Bulgogi

Originally posted on August 18^th 2023.

After being introduced to the traditional table setting and the royal cuisine we got an scientifically insight into Korean fermented foods. This topic was a very special and was mainly regarded to chemical analysis.

In general the fermentation causes a change in the food because of microorganisms. It helps to preserve the food, to extend the self life considerably over that of the raw materials from which they are made, to improve the aroma and flavour characteristics and increase the vitamin content or its digestibility compared to the raw materials.

In fact Kimchi was chosen as the healthiest food in the world by the New York Times:

1. Kimchi (Korea)
2. Yogurt (Greece)
3. Soy (Japan)
4. Lentil (India)
5. Olive oil (Spain)

One reason is that it contents of the good lactobacilli is ten times higher than those that have also been found in yoghurt.

This study has not been long but increased because scientists want to find out more about the funcionality of Kimchi and what is so healthy about it.

With the intentionto globalize Kimchi the Korean govenment applied several times to receive the Codex to export Kimchi. It took them more than 10 years as it then was accepted by 2001. In the codex Kimchi is defined as: … (a) prepared from varieties of Chinese cabbage, Brassica pekinensis Rupr.; such Chinese cabbages shall be free from significant defects, and trimmed to remove inedible parts, salted, washed with fresh water, and drained to remove excess water; they may or may not be cut into suitable sized pieces/parts;

(b) processed with seasoning mixture mainly consisting of red pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) powder, garlic, ginger, edible Allium varieties other than garlic, and radish. These ingredients may be chopped, sliced and broken into pieces; and

(c) fermented before or after being packaged into appropriate containers to ensure the proper ripening and preservation of the product by lactic acid production at low temperatures. … (Source: http://www.fao.org/docrep/meeting/005/w7974e/w7974e0p.htm)

Here is a video about how to make Kimchi :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71aRUD7w24M

On our last lecture day we our professor spoke about the Sagacity of Hot pepper and spices. (I will come back to this in a later post)

After lunch we had the last lecture which was the second studio-type and was about cooking traditional Korean food: Bulgogi and Haemul Pajoen. These are really also one of my favourite dishes that are not too difficult to make.

#kimchi #fermentedfood #foodinseoul