Chilli kimchi (fermented vegetables)
Kimchi con guindilla (hortalizas fermentadas)
- Date
- c. siglos XVII-XVIII (con guindilla) · confidence low
- Place
- Seoul, South Korea
- Credited to
- Joseon cuisine
- Field
- Life & health
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A preserve of cabbage and other vegetables salted and fermented with garlic, ginger, fermented fish and, once chilli arrived, red pepper. It is Korea's national dish and a way to keep vegetables through the winter.
Salted vegetable pickles are mentioned early in Korea; chilli (brought from the Americas after the 1592 war) only appears in kimchi recipes in the 18th century (Jeungbo Sallim Gyeongje, 1766). The modern napa-and-chilli form spread in the 19th-20th centuries.
What it led to
- kimjang, community kimchi-making (UNESCO, 2013)
- chilli paste (gochujang) and spicy Korean cuisine
- vegetable preservation without refrigeration in Korea