Kimchi Refrigerator

With as much as I love fermented foods, it wouldn't be right to talk about Korea and not touch on the subject of Kimchi. To give a westernized definition, Kimichi is Korea's spicy sauerkraut. Take a few heads of cabbage, mix them with salt, and allow them to ferment in stone crocks for a few weeks. Lactobacillus bacteria ferment the cabbage, giving it a tangy flavor and an extended shelf-life.


What makes Kimchi unique is that it's made with Napa (or "Chinese") cabbage, is smeared with hot chile paste, and normally involves dried fish, shrimp, or raw oysters in the mix. I also find it interesting that the cabbage isn't shredded like sauerkraut. The oval heads are split in half, cored, and allowed to ferment as is.


And unlike sauerkraut, Kimchi is served at every meal, including breakfast. That means people go through a lot of Kimchi. So where do they keep it? Why in their Kimchi refrigerator! Looking like a top-loading deep freezer, this beautiful appliance was just hanging out in Youngjoo's family kitchen. Unlike a regular refrigerator, this fridge cycles air throughout the unit, helping to keep the bacteria happy and the kimchi fresher. It even has different temperatures for different types of Kimchi! You can select the temperature for cabbage kimchi, turnip kimchi, radish kimchi, etc...


I thought this was so amazing. I was curious how common it was in Korea. One refrigerator sales website said it's expected to be in 60% of homes in the next few years, although they didn't give a data source. It's also fantastic that so many people make their own kimchi, rather than just buying it from a bottle at the store.

If you're interested, this is a cool pdf on selecting the right kimchi fridge for your family's needs. It's in Korean, but has lots of internal views of the different models.