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Radish and Root Kimchi
(By Kristen Davenport -Adapted from Wild Fermentation by Sandor Katz)
Sea Salt
1 or 2 Daikon Radishes
1 small burdock root
1 or 2 turnips
Some Jerusalem artichokes
2 carrots
Red radishes
Horseradish root, grated
3 tablespoons (or more) fresh grated ginger root
4 cloves garlic (or more), sliced
1 or 2 onions, leeks, scallions, shallots
3 or 4 really hot red chiles
Process:
Mix a brine of about 4 cups water and 3 tablespoons salt. Slice vegetables pretty thin and let them soak in the brine. If the roots are fresh and organic, leave the nutritious skins on. Slice the roots thin so the flavors penetrate. Slice some radishes, but leave small ones whole. You can even include their greens. While soaking in the brine, use a heavy plate or other item to keep the vegetables submerged, for several hours or overnight. Prepare spices—ginger, garlic, onion, chile. Kimchi can absorb a lot of spice. Mix the spices into a paste. Drain the brine off the vegetables, but reserve the brine. Taste vegetables for saltiness. You want them to taste decidedly salty, but not unpleasantly so. If they are too salty, rinse them. If they are not salty enough, sprinkle them with a couple of teaspoons. Then: Mix everything and stuff it into clean jars. The amounts above will likely make a quart. Pack it tightly into the jar and press down until the brine rises. You have to either set something heavy on top of the vegetables (a Ziploc filled with brine) or find some other way to keep the vegetables generally below the brine level—you can use your clean fingers, too. Then, ferment on your kitchen counter or other warm place. After a day or two, you’ll start to see bubbles. Taste the kimchi every day to see when it’s best—about a week is when it is usually “ripe.” Once it’s done to your taste, move it to the refrigerator.
