can you kimchi anything

Kimchi is a traditional Korean fermented food with a history going back centuries. The classic version, baechu kimchi, uses Napa cabbage as the base, with daikon radish, carrots, garlic, ginger, green onions, and a red pepper paste called gochugaru. My traditional version at Scotty's Fermented Foods follows that formula: Napa cabbage, daikon, carrots, onions, garlic, ginger, green onions, all dressed in that hot pepper paste, with fish sauce for depth.

But the vegetable is the substrate, not the point. The point is the lacto-fermentation that happens when lactic acid bacteria, the same kind found naturally on the surface of raw vegetables, get the environment they need to thrive.

Research published in PubMed describes kimchi as a food manufactured by fermenting vegetables with probiotic lactic acid bacteria. Cruciferous vegetables are the classic choice, but studies have documented dozens of regional kimchi varieties made with different main ingredients. The process is what defines it, not the specific vegetable. The microbial community in kimchi fermentation is dominated by Leuconostoc species early on, transitioning to Lactiplantibacillus plantarum and other Lactobacillus strains as acidity builds — the same succession occurs regardless of which vegetable serves as substrate (Dalmasso et al., Frontiers in Microbiology, 2023).

When you salt a vegetable to make kimchi, something elegant happens. The salt draws moisture out of the vegetable through osmosis. That moisture, combined with the sugars in the vegetable, creates a brine. Lactic acid bacteria, already living on the surface of your vegetables, start to consume the sugars in that brine and produce lactic acid as a byproduct.

That lactic acid does two critical things. First, it lowers the pH of the ferment, making the environment too acidic for harmful bacteria to survive. Second, it's what gives kimchi its characteristic sour, complex flavor. The fermentation is essentially self-preserving, the bacteria create the conditions that protect the food from spoilage.

Different bacterial species dominate at different stages. Early in fermentation, Leuconostoc species are most active. As the pH drops and acidity increases, Lactobacillus strains take over. This succession of bacteria is what creates the layered flavor profile of well-fermented kimchi, and it happens naturally, without any starter culture, as long as you salt correctly and keep things anaerobic.

Cruciferous vegetables are the traditional base for a reason. Cabbage, Napa or green, has the right texture, sugar content, and water content to ferment beautifully. It wilts under salt without going mushy, stays crisp enough to eat, and has enough surface area for bacterial colonization.

But in my kitchen and fermentation practice, a wide range of vegetables work well.

Radishes, daikon especially, but also Korean radishes and even regular red radishes. These are already in traditional kimchi as a secondary ingredient, but you can absolutely make radish-forward kimchi. The texture holds up beautifully.

Cucumbers are a summer kimchi staple in Korea. They ferment quickly because of their high water content. Best eaten young, within a week, while they're still crisp.

Green beans hold their snap well through fermentation. Great with garlic and ginger.

Carrots are dense enough to stay firm, sweet enough to ferment actively. Works alone or as a blend.

Broccoli stems, don't let these go to waste. They ferment well and develop a nice funk.

Turnips are traditional in many regional Korean varieties. Mellow flavor, good texture.

Leeks and green onions are sometimes used as the main ingredient rather than just an accent.

The common thread is vegetables with enough structural integrity to survive fermentation without turning to mush, and enough natural sugar to feed the bacteria. Very starchy vegetables like potatoes aren't ideal. Very soft ones like ripe tomatoes don't hold up well. But almost anything in the firm, crunchy vegetable category can work.

At Scotty's Fermented Foods, I make three versions, and they each tell a slightly different story about what kimchi can be.

The Traditional Kimchi is closest to the Korean baechu standard: Napa cabbage, daikon, carrots, onions, garlic, ginger, green onions, fish sauce, gochugaru. The version with the most depth and complexity. The fish sauce adds a layer of umami that rounds out the heat and the sour.

The Vegan Kimchi swaps the fish sauce for a combination of fermented ingredients that provide similar depth without the animal product, often a blend of miso or soy sauce with extra ginger and garlic. The fermentation is just as active; the flavor profile is a little cleaner and brighter.

The White Kimchi (baek kimchi) uses no gochugaru at all. No heat, no red color. Just the fermentation doing its work with garlic, ginger, and mild aromatics. The result is subtle, a little sweet, still complex, a completely different personality in the same tradition.

Each uses a different flavor framework, but the underlying biology is the same: lactic acid bacteria, salt, anaerobic conditions, time.

Start with Napa cabbage. Salt it generously, about 2% salt by weight of the cabbage, or roughly one tablespoon of non-iodized salt per pound. Let it wilt for an hour or two, then rinse and squeeze out the excess liquid.

Make your paste: garlic, ginger, gochugaru (or whatever heat you want), a small amount of something sweet like a little grated apple or a pinch of sugar to feed the fermentation. Add your aromatics, green onions, daikon if you have it.

Mix the paste with the cabbage. Pack it into a clean jar, pressing firmly to push out air bubbles and submerge the vegetables below the brine line. Leave some headspace at the top because the fermentation will produce gas and the contents will expand.

Leave it on the counter for one to five days depending on how sour you want it. Taste it daily. When it's where you like it, move it to the fridge, where it'll continue to ferment slowly and improve for weeks or months.

Kimchi is one of the most alive foods you can make. Once you understand the process, you'll start looking at every vegetable in your garden and asking: could I kimchi this? The answer is almost always yes.

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