How did someone create kimchi that won smell?
Kim Soon-ja of South Korea says she is the first to create freeze-dried kimchi and has secured a patent for it. Kim Soon-ja says her freeze-dried pickled cabbage, which has the taste but not the odor many associate with the national dish, will appeal to foreigners and fussy Koreans. Reporting from Seoul — As a connoisseur of kimchi, South Korea’s national dish, Kim Soon-ja takes a package of the fermented cabbage everywhere — even overseas. But there has always been one indelicate matter: how to mask the garlicky and often offensively pungent odor. “My tour guide asked me not to take out my kimchi in public because it can be distasteful to foreigners,” Kim, 56, says of a trip to Europe several years ago. Instead of being insulted, Kim went to work on a novel culinary concept that in this country was about as revolutionary as the seedless watermelon: She wanted to take the funky odor out of her beloved kimchi, which ranks among odoriferous global foods such as Limburger cheese and Chi
South Korean creates kimchi that won’t smell By Ju-min Park July 23, 2009 Reporting from Seoul — As a connoisseur of kimchi, South Korea’s national dish, Kim Soon-ja takes a package of the fermented cabbage everywhere — even overseas. But there has always been one indelicate matter: how to mask the garlicky and often offensively pungent odor. “My tour guide asked me not to take out my kimchi in public because it can be distasteful to foreigners,” Kim, 56, says of a trip to Europe several years ago. Instead of being insulted, Kim went to work on a novel culinary concept that in this country was about as revolutionary as the seedless watermelon: She wanted to take the funky odor out of her beloved kimchi, which ranks among odoriferous global foods such as Limburger cheese and China’s “stinky tofu.” The ambitious curly-haired woman had already been named by the South Korean Food Ministry in 2007 as the nation’s first kimchi master, a designation that honors her mastery of the dish. Work
For all those people who have been very eager to put a slice of this Korean delicacy in their mouth but couldn’t be so adventurous due to the less appealing odor, this is one news that will find a lot of favor. Now, one can go ahead and enjoy the famous kimchi, minus the smell.
South Korean Kim Soon-ja states that her freezer dried and pickled cabbage is the answer for foreigners and all fussy Koreans who seek the delights of the kimchi. No repelling flavor from this one. So, one can enjoy the rich flavors on their taste buds only without it attacking their nose.
Kim Soon-ja is a connoisseur of kimchi and hardly moves anywhere without her favorite concoction of the fermented cabbage. It was mostly because of the hurdle of the related pungent and offensive flavor (dominantly of garlic) that Soon was encouraged to produce a variety that would be less of a riot to the nose.
Relating her experience she says that during a visit to Europe some years earlier, she had been requested by her tour guide not to display her delicacy in public, for fear of rebukes. Undaunted in her affection towards kimchi, Soon, accompanied with a team of food experts, set upon herself the trying task of producing a kimchi that would retain all the natural flavors and taste that it is known for, omitting the overpowering odor.
Her efforts were lauded when she succeeded in making the kimchi that didn’t smell even after the addition of water. Soon says that she is the first person to create freeze-dried kimchi, for which she has secured a patent. She is already a known figure in Korean culinary circles and had been named by the South Korean Food Ministry in 2007 as the nation’s first kimchi master.
