Kimchi Essay

Kimchi is a common food among the Koreans. It is a national identification that represents Korean cuisine. Kimchi is a traditional fermented food which is made up of mainly vegetables and pastes. It is normally served as a side dish or sometimes as an ingredient for some delicious Korean cuisine. Kimchi is well enjoyed by the people in Korea. It can be both homemade and commercially prepared. It is common for Koreans to make kimchi at home and it is also easy to be found in any Korean grocery store worldwide. The main ingredients for making kimchi are cabbage, radish, garlic, ginger, red pepper powder, salt, sugar, water, seafood flavoring and scallions (“How to make Easy Kimchi”, 2013). To make kimchi, first, remove the core of the cabbage

Kimchi ferments anaerobically (Jung et al., 2011). There are various types of microbes that are involved in the fermentation of kimchi. The main bacteria that participated are the lactic acid bacteria (LAB). Heterofermentative LAB is an important participant in kimchi fermentation. The examples of the bacteria are those that belong to the genera Weissella, Lactobacillus and Leuconostoc (Jung, Lee, & Jeon, 2014). The raw material for making kimchi also contributes in the presence of LAB. The main source for the LAB at early-fermentation process of kimchi is the garlic (Lim et al., 2015). It was stated that when more garlic is used during kimchi production, the population of the LAB in the kimchi would increase significantly while the amount of aerobic bacteria would decrease (Cho et al., 1988; Lee et al., 2008). This indicates that garlic might be an important source for the growth of LAB in kimchi. Besides that, red pepper powder also affects the fermentation of kimchi (Jeong et al., 2013b). It was shown that kimchi that contain red pepper powder has a higher content of Weissella but lower content in Leuconostoc and Lactobacillus (Jung et al.,

Lactate and acetate are the main organic acids produced. The microbes carried out fermentation process through the 6-phosphogluconate/phosphoketolase pathway anaerobically. Mannitol is also produced during fermentation. It gives kimchi a refreshing taste (Jung, Lee, & Jeon, 2014). Apart from the major organic acid, there are some other acids that are produced in small amount such as propionic acid. The amino acids produced and accumulated during fermentation are important contributors for the taste of the kimchi (Jung, Lee, & Jeon, 2014). The kimchi LAB was also reported to have produced flavoring compounds and vitamins that contribute to the kimchi (Jung, Lee, & Jeon,