Want Better Kimchi? Make It Like the Ancients Did

hubie writes:

Want Better Kimchi? Make It Like the Ancients Did:

Fermented foods like kimchi have been an integral part of Korean cuisine for thousands of years. Since ancient times, Korean chefs have used onggi - traditional handmade clay jars - to ferment kimchi. Today, most kimchi is made through mass fermentation in glass, steel, or plastic containers, but it has long been claimed that the highest quality kimchi is fermented in onggi.

Kimchi purists now have scientific validation, thanks to recent research from David Hu, professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and the School of Biological Sciences at Georgia Tech, and Soohwan Kim, a second-year Ph.D. student in Hu's lab.

In a combined experimental and theoretical study, Hu and Kim measured carbon dioxide levels in onggi during kimchi fermentation and developed a mathematical model to show how the gas was generated and moved through the onggi's porous walls. By bringing the study of fluid mechanics to bear on an ancient technology, their research highlights the work of artisans and provides the missing link for how the traditional earthenware allows for high quality kimchi.

[...] "We wanted to find the 'secret sauce' for how onggi make kimchi taste so good," Hu said. "So, we measured how the gases evolved while kimchi fermented inside the onggi - something no one had done before."

The porous structure of these earthenware vessels mimics the loose soil where lactic acid bacteria - known for their healthy probiotic nature - are found. While previous studies have shown that kimchi fermented in onggi has more lactic acid bacteria, no one knew exactly how the phenomenon is connected to the unique material properties of the container.

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