In article > , Musashi
> wrote:

> > > Kimchi is good stuff. It's quite popular in Japan as well mostly
> > > because of the fairly large Korean immigrant population, but the
> > > kimchi in Japan, as well as stuff I've had in the US isn't overly
> > > fermented. Which is the way I like it.
> >
> > And where is the kimchi "overly fermented"? Just in Korea. All the
> > Korean dining I've done has been in Korean owned-and-run
> > restaurants in Garden Grove, CA, in the Little Korea there. Logic
> > says that would be pretty much the real deal, right?
> >
> Probably but not definitely. I say this because Korean friends talk
> about kimchi in terms of numbers of days in the pot, and as with any
> foods, preferences may vary depending on geography.
>
> > Or is that a North/South thing? I never really think of this stuff
> > as particularly fermented, but then I haven't really been comparing
> > it to anything else.
> >
> Have you ever opened a jar of Korean kimchi and had the jar go
> PSSSSSS from the gas? But the kimchi I've had in the US in Korean
> owned/run restaurants have never been so fermented.

Nope. Never bought it in a jar. That would be a nationally
distributed brand or a local jarred thing. We have a couple of kimchi
shops around here, amazingly. They really only have these 5 gallon
jars of two or three kinds of kimchi in refrigerators. That's all they
sell! Amazing...

--
"A Dictionary of Japanese Food, Ingredients & Culture" by Richard Hosking
(Tuttle, '97). All the hints one might need for exploring Japanese food.

"The Sake Handbook" by John Gaunter (Tuttle, '02). An excellent intro and
reference to sake.