Recession/Survival Food--Kimchi

Kimchi has been voted one of the healthiest foods in the world. It is attributed to the active constituents in the Garlic, Burdock, and GInger, but also in the fact that as a truly fermented food, it is chock full of Lactobaccillus that help keep the nasty bugs away, and pre-digest the Cabbage making the vitamin and mineral content more bio-available. It also is a way to "can" your vegetables naturally to have on stock while at the same time having it be super healthy and at the other end of the spectrum from the nutrient devoid canned goods of modern times.

Just a heads up, this can be time consuming, but it is OH SO GOOD FOR YOU!
It depends on what kind of Kimchi you want to make, but the traditional Baechu Kimchi, with Napa is relatively simple (though a bit time consuming). If you have a Korean/Asian market nearby they should have everything you need (you should, I know of at least one in Minneapolis, so there should be one in St. Paul). I recommend getting at LEAST the cabbage organic as Napa has the highest pesticide use of all cabbages and it can interfere with the fermentation, not to mention your DNA. Also, use purified water as chlorine in tap water can kill the lactobaccillus necessary for proper fermentation.
You will need:
4-5 cloves Garlic sliced or minced
2" Ginger minced/crushed/sliced really thin
1-2 (to taste) bunches of Green Onions chopped in 1-2" pieces
Burdock root (optional-called U-eong in Korean Markets). 1 peeled and grated
Korean Hot Pepper crushed about 1/2 cup or to taste (if you can only handle so much hot stuff (i.e. Minnesota tastebuds) I would cut this down to 1/8 a cup.)
1 1/4 cups sea salt (about) + 1 tblspn sea salt for mix
1 tblspn sugar or honey
2 large heads of Napa Cabbage/4 heads of Bok Choy whichever you prefer.
There are some recipes that add anchovy paste (I did, but only about a teaspoon) or pureed oysters or fish sauce (about 1/4 cup) and others that don't, but I'm told without any it isn't very authentic.
There is also a sweet brown rice paste (3 tbspns water mixed with 3 tblspns sweet brown rice flour) you are supposed to add, but I didn't (didn't have any on hand) and mine turned out fine. Some recipes do and don't have it included. (you can also add pretty much whatever you want at this point-I added some cilantro, but you can add apple and pear if you want it sweeter, or daikon and carrot etc.)

You have to cut the root off (but try to leave Napa intact) and rinse (don't wash) the cabbage and cut it (most cut it into quarters without going through at the ends-toward the root- but I cut it into quarters and then third that-it's easier to eat that way) with bok choy you can just cut it up. and using 1 and 1/4 cup of the sea salt- get salt into all the leaf layers and then soak for about 6 hours, turning every 2 hours so all sides get immersed (I use a big dish tub and leave it overnight with something weighing it down).

After it is done soaking kind of "squish" it in the colander to "dry" and set aside

Hopefully all your other ingredients are chopped/sliced/minced/crushed at this point, so go ahead and mix them in a bowl (except the sugar/honey) --I used a spoon and then my hand, but if you use your hand, prepare for it to get REALLY tingly/burny. I knew it was coming so I was prepared...or you could use a food handling glove (the best way) With bok choy or if you chop the Napa like I do you just kind of toss the mix with it, but with Napa cut into quarters, you have to rub/stuff it between the leaves- big to small.
Then press/shove/jam it all into either 4 quart (ball canning jars work well) or a 1 gallon jar until there is little to no air, then mix the sugar/honey into a cup of water till dissolved and pour it over the top until it covers the kimchi completely (if there is still room, just add a bit more water to cover the top). Seal and put in a cool dark place to ferment for three days, and then put in the fridge and you're GOLD (it keeps forever-well a really long time)!