Kimchee was traditionally stored in different places depending on how long it needed to be fermented and how soon it was to be eaten. A pot of kimchee to be eaten fairly soon would be kept in the shade of the changtoktae, an outdoor raised platform. Kimchee to be eaten later in winter was kept inside a specially built storeroom, while crocks of kimchee that were expected to last till spring would be buried in the ground. The storeroom was built of a thick thatch of straw, which allowed proper ventilation while maintaining the temperature and humidity at a fairly constant level. The conical storeroom (known as a kimcheegwang or sometimes an ogari) in the picture is reminiscent of a yurt.
Chilies originally come from central Mexico and were first introduced to Europe by the Portuguese. In kimchee, chili powder helps suppress the propagation of unwanted micro-organisms. Korean chilies are only about one-third as hot as those commonly grown in other countries, but they contain about twice the amount of vitamin C and have 1.2 to 1.5 times as much sweet flavor as they do spicy-hotness.
Cultural Context
As we have seen, the overriding factor in the development of various types of kimchee is this so-called extra taste: pungency. However, it is not only the taste that counts. Koreans were - and still are - very much concerned with the visual and symbolic aspects of food.
In Korean cosmology, the Five Colors of yellow, white, black, red and green are associated with the Five Directions: blues and greens are associated with the east, reds with the south, white with the west, black with the north and yellows and browns with the center. Therefore the Five Colors are associated not only with the directions, but with the four seasons and the change of seasons; in other words, they are symbols of time as well as space. The Five Colors are rooted in the northeast Asian theory of Yin and Yang and the Five Modes of Action (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water), elements thought to compose all natural and human phenomena.
However, it is not just the sense of color that follows the principles of the Five Modes of Action; the sense of taste does too, with the corresponding flavors being spicy-hot, sweet, sour, salty and bitter. By applying the Five Modes of Action to everyday culinary matters, Koreans created a code of visual and gustatory symbols that mirrored Korean cosmology. Korean food brings together the whole spectrum of colors, shapes and tastes in a balanced harmony or a 'symphony of flavors.'
Of all traditional Korean foods, the one that exhibits this symbolism the most clearly is ohunch'ae, a vegetable dish. The o part of the name means five, and the humch'ae stands for strong herbs such as scallions, garlic and chives, plants that Korean folk tradition regards as possessing cosmic power of harmonizing and blending. At the vernal equinox, the king would grant his retainers gifts of ohunch'ae: the herbs would be arranged with the yellow one in the middle and the green, white, red and black ones placed around it in the order corresponding to east, west, south and north. The act of mixing these together and eating them represented the political concept of all the various factions on the outside being united under the king (the yellow center). Similarly, in ordinary middle-class households, ohunch'ae was eaten during the spring equinox. Here, the Five Colors and Five Flavors had a different significance: green stood for the virtue of benevolence, red for politeness, yellow for fidelity, white for righteousness and black for wisdom (the Five Cardinal Virtues), while green signified the spleen, red the lungs, yellow the heart, white the liver and black the kidneys. Thus, if one ate ohunch'ae on the day of the equinox one would acquire all Five Cardinal Virtues and enjoy good health through the balanced and harmonious functioning of all the organs of the body.
Crocks of a type called haeju dok, dating from the latter part of the Choson Dynasty. Though the shapes and other characteristics of kimchee crocks vary from region to region, they are all generally made of earthenware, mostly brown-glazed. The haeju dok, however, which come from the Kwanso region (the northwestern part of the peninsula) are unusual in that they are made of porcelain. No one is sure exactly why or when such porcelain crocks were developed, but most extant examples are from late in the Choson Dynasty. In form and decoration, they show the influence of the blue-on-white porcelain tradition; indeed, some examples seem to have been made using identical techniques. A few decades ago it was common to see small white porcelain jars and vases decorated with blue peonies sitting on the rice chest in the wooden floor of a traditional home, adding a touch of elegance to the decor, but in the Kwanso region, better-off families went so far as to have their large crocks made of porcelain. Peonies are the most common motif used on haeju dok, but other common motifs include fish and flowers.
A folk painting by an unknown artist of the Choson Dynasty. The radish was probably introduced to Korea in the 1st century BC.
The eggplant seems to have originated in southeast Asia or India and probably came to Korea via China some time before the 5th century. It is easily grown; the variety most commonly found in Korea is the long, black-purple type as pictured here.
There are many such dishes in Korean cookery. For example, shinsollo is a stew containing the Five Colors in the form of meat, fish, vegetables, stone mushrooms, walnuts, ginkgo nuts, chestnuts, pine nuts and threads of dried chili. Rainbow rice cakes have multi-colored layers reminiscent of traditional Korean striped garments. Not only are the colors and tastes combined; the sources of the various ingredients also make for a spatial mixture, as they are taken from the fields, the mountains, the sea and even the sky (fowl).
It is not only the dishes themselves that mirror this concept of Korean cosmology. It is also the way that they are eaten. At a Korean meal all the dishes are placed on the table at the same time: the rice, the soup, the vegetables, the meat, the fish and even the rice cakes or shikhye which serve as dessert. The meal is distinguished by the number of side dishes - five, seven, or more, and is consumed with a spoon and-chopsticks at the same time. The blandness of the rice counteracts the flavors of the meat and fish dishes, and the kimchee clears the palate in order to taste the next dish.
Thus it may be seen that the preparation, the dishes themselves and the consumption of the meal are part and parcel of Korean culture, belief and cosmology. It is believed that the taste of Korean food is the taste of the harmonization of heaven, earth and man. As one eats kimchee, one eats the universe, and in so doing becomes part of the universe and the universe becomes part of man. It is much more than simply sitting down for a meal!
A view of a market from more recent times. Cabbage was mentioned in Korean documents as long ago as the Koryo Dynasty, but the cabbage of that period was not popularly eaten because it was small and had a sparse core. Today's cabbage is easy to cultivate, has a pleasant taste, and pickles well, making it the predominant vegetable for use in kimchee. When someone uses the word 'kimchee', cabbage kimchee is generally implied. Cabbages with big, densely packed heads were not grown in Korea until the 1850s.
INGREDIENTS: VEGETABLES
Vegetables compose the main 'body' of each individual kimchee. Their freshness and quality are of paramount importance. Make your local Asian grocer the first port of call for kimchee ingredients. Some are a little obscure, in which case substitutions have been suggested.
KOREAN CABBAGE, PAECH'U