Kimchi air bubble removal
I'm making Kimchi for the first time and I have two questions about air bubble removal.
First, all the recipes I've seen say to press the Kimchi down to remove air bubbles. My batch had a few small bubbles lower in the jar, probably the size of a lentil or less, and when I tried pushing down deep enough to get them out, it tended to just introduce more air bubbles around the muddler I was using to press it. Short of putting the jar in a centrifuge, I don't see how I could get these small bubbles out.
How strict should I be about initial air bubble removal? Is it ok to have a few very small bubbles like the one highlighted below?
Second, I see after the first day that some larger bubbles have formed lower down in the jar. This picture shows a larger bubble after 24 hours of fermentation which was definitely not there when I initially jarred and packed the veggies down:
Recipes I've seen tell you to push the solid contents down below the surface of the brine periodically as it ferments.
Should I also try to remove new/larger bubbles as they form during fermentation? I.e. by pushing deeper into the jar with a muddler. Or does doing so risk contaminating the environment with new external bacteria?
Best Answer
Small air bubbles are normal and make no difference to kimchi fermentation, nor do larger bubbles that form during fermentation. As long as the kimchi remains more or less submerged in the liquid, there’s no need to remove the trapped gas. Kimchi is an extremely difficult thing to mess up - once established, the lactic acid bacterial culture will murder any microbes that get in its way - so i think that manually degassing it would probably be okay, but it would serve no purpose.
Pictures about "Kimchi air bubble removal"
Quick Answer about "Kimchi air bubble removal"
The preferred method is to use a clean plastic long glove, and press gently down on the kimchi until majority of the sir bubbles are gone. additionally, make sure next time there's enough space in the top of jar for the kimchi to rise, so you don't have to worry about overflowing!How do you get carbonation out of kimchi?
Let your kimchi \u201cbreathe\u201d If you want to remove the fizziness of your current batch of kimchi, you can just remove it from the jar and spread it on a large plate. This will remove the carbonation after a few minutes. Do not let it aerate for too long as this will dry out your kimchi.Is kimchi supposed to bubble when you open it?
It is perfectly normal for some jars of kimchi to bubble and pop profusely and for others to not. No pop or overflow when opening a jar does not mean that the kimchi does not contain legions of gut-health-boosting bacteria - trust us it does!Why does my kimchi have bubbles?
Kimchi is a naturally fermenting product that builds pressure inside the jar. When the jar is opened, the pressure releases and bubbles to the surface.Should kimchi ferment airtight?
In fact, factory-produced kimchi in Korea is kept at a constant 4 degrees celsius - the temperature of your fridge. A mason jar is ideal, though any airtight container should do.My FAVORITE KIMCHI Recipe -- A Small Batch DIY | FERMENTED
More answers regarding kimchi air bubble removal
Answer 2
I believe the instructions are about trying to remove any major air gaps, initially.
As the process goes on, and your kimchee is fermenting, it will be impossible to remove bubbles, since the fermentation process that kimchi goes through produces carbon dioxide as a by-product.
Remember, the original, traditional kimchee isn't made in a glass jar and micromanaged. They put the cabbage and other ingredients into huge crocks and bury them in the ground for weeks or months, so, clearly, kimchee can be made without removing bubbles as they form.
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Images: zhugewala, Maël BALLAND, Sarah Chai, Sora Shimazaki