Brussels sprouts are insanely expensive here in Korea. Like, I’ve seen some go for about a dollar a sprout. But since I recently found a nice box of sprouts for pretty cheap, I wanted to try making this Brussels sprout kimchi that I’ve been hearing of. Now, I love Brussels sprouts, and I love kimchi, so surely this should be a good combo, right? I’ve quarted all the Brussels sprouts, and I’m going to toss them in a generous sprinkling of salt before letting them sit overnight to draw out some of the liquid. The next day, I’ll rinse and drain the Brussels sprouts, and I’m going to make my bare minimum effort kimchi paste. In a blender, I’m throwing a buttload of garlic. Any good kimchi recipe has to have a ton of garlic, a diced onion, and then some soy sauce. I don’t bother adding ginger since I’m not super into ginger in my kimchi, and I didn’t have any fruit on hand to add to this as well. I also don’t bother with a rice slurry since it’s extra work. Like I said, this is bare minimum, not traditional. I’ll keep adding to the garlic onion blended mixture until it reaches a nice paste consistency and then add that to my Brussels sprouts and make sure everything is coated. I’m going to ferment these in a vacuum sealed bag since it’ll give me a good visual of how much fermentation is happening. And I set that in a cool, dark place for a couple days. And as you can see, a lot of fermentation has occurred. I would keep this going longer, but I’m kind of afraid this bag will explode at some point. Some may disagree with me, but I find the smell coming off of this amazing. And the sprouts have maintained their firmness quite well. However, these are still tasting quite bitter, like fresh sprouts, unlike when I use Chinese cabbage, which by this point will be a pretty good tasting kimchi, which probably means this isn’t done yet. So, I’ll need to give this more time to ferment. I’m going to place this back into a jar, which I’ve lined with a food bag, and I’m going to loosely tie the top and close a jar and place this back to ferment even more. And I haven’t said this in a while, but make sure you’re following to see how this one turns

22 Comments

  1. It’s odd that they are so expensive in Korea considering how great the climate is for cabbages . I love the Brussel love

  2. Shave the sprouts…also I know you said bare minimum but I am pretty sure fish sauce is a key ingredient. I don’t see the point in fermenting kimchi without fish sauce….but that’s just me I’m a white American idk squat

  3. I chose the wrong profession. I should have been a Brussels sprouts farmer in Korea! I’d be a millionaire 🤑💰

  4. I would like to try this with broccoli as well. One time I left by mistake in the fridge for 2 months a vacuum sealed box of spicy cooked broccoli and when I finally eat them they were fermented e developed a very nice sour taste that was paired with the fatness being pan fried. So the idea would be to lightly boil and pan fried the broccoli or sprouts

  5. that's insane! I get half a kilo of brussel sprouts for slightly more than a euro in Germany D: