Spice news
TradePatel Retail launches 23-product whole spices range under Indian ChaskaChilliChili Prices Hit Rp100,000 per Kg: What's Happening?ChilliChicago-Area Brand The Spice Drops Launches a Concentrated Chili Oil That Makes Food Spicy Without Changing the FlavorHarvestSaffron In The Cold Desert? Ladakh Is Putting 90,000 Iranian Corms To The TestMarketsUttar Pradesh Gears Up To Become Global Hub For Spice Processing & ExportsHarvestWhy 100 UP Farmers Are Growing Turmeric to Reduce Elephant Crop RaidsHarvestKashmir Squanders SaffronChilliChesapeake Chili Crisp? A DC-Area Chef Is Putting Unexpected Spins on the Condiment.HarvestRed Gold In Cold Desert: Iranian Corms Take Root As Ladakh Begins Saffron Farming Under 'Him Sarovar'TradeSpice market update: cumin continues its upward trendTradePatel Retail launches 23-product whole spices range under Indian ChaskaChilliChili Prices Hit Rp100,000 per Kg: What's Happening?ChilliChicago-Area Brand The Spice Drops Launches a Concentrated Chili Oil That Makes Food Spicy Without Changing the FlavorHarvestSaffron In The Cold Desert? Ladakh Is Putting 90,000 Iranian Corms To The TestMarketsUttar Pradesh Gears Up To Become Global Hub For Spice Processing & ExportsHarvestWhy 100 UP Farmers Are Growing Turmeric to Reduce Elephant Crop RaidsHarvestKashmir Squanders SaffronChilliChesapeake Chili Crisp? A DC-Area Chef Is Putting Unexpected Spins on the Condiment.HarvestRed Gold In Cold Desert: Iranian Corms Take Root As Ladakh Begins Saffron Farming Under 'Him Sarovar'TradeSpice market update: cumin continues its upward trend
EveryMasala

Pastes and wet masalas

Kimchi seasoning paste

A gochugaru, garlic and fish sauce paste rubbed between cabbage leaves for kimchi.

Kimchi is the best-known fermented vegetable dish of Korea, and the red paste that coats the cabbage is its seasoning. The chilli is gochugaru, a coarse flake with a mild, smoky warmth. The practice of making kimchi in bulk, gimjang, is on UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage.

What goes in

Gochugaru: 33%33%Garlic: 22%22%Ginger: 11%11%Fish sauce: 17%17%Spring onion: 11%11%Sugar: 6%18parts
  • Gochugaru633%, Chilli flakes.
  • Garlic422%, Pungent.
  • Ginger211%, Fresh.
  • Fish sauce317%, Salty umami.
  • Spring onion211%, Freshness.
  • Sugar16%, Balance.

Parts by volume of the whole spice. The ring shows each part's share.

Made step by step

Each drawing shows the operation for that step. Ratios and timings differ from house to house; this is one traditional-style way.

  1. Step 1: Infuse Cook rice flour with water into a thin porridge and let it cool.
  2. Step 2: Pound Pound or blend the garlic and ginger to a paste.
  3. Step 3: Bloom Stir the gochugaru into the porridge and let it hydrate.
  4. Step 4: Blend Add the garlic, ginger, fish sauce and sugar.
  5. Step 5: Blend Fold in spring onion.
  6. Step 6: Rest Rest the paste for a short time before using it on salted cabbage.
  7. Step 7: Store Store the finished kimchi cold.
  8. Gochugaru: 33%33%Garlic: 22%22%Ginger: 11%11%Fish sauce: 17%17%Spring onion: 11%11%Sugar: 6%
    Finished Kimchi seasoning paste, by share.

The paste

Gochugaru is mixed with garlic, ginger, fish sauce or salted shrimp, spring onion and often a rice-flour porridge, which helps fermentation and sticks the paste to the leaves. Vegan versions use kelp or fruit instead of fish.

Making kimchi

Salted cabbage is washed and drained, then the paste is rubbed between each leaf. It is packed into jars and left to ferment. Recipes differ by region and family.

Where it is used

Baechu kimchiRadish kimchiKimchi stew

The spices in it

GingerFresh.Chili pepperThe pungent berry of the Capsicum plant, used to add heat to dishes worldwide.GingerThe pungent rhizome of a flowering plant, widely used as a spice and folk medicine.

Also part of it, and being written: Gochugaru (Korean chilli flake.), Garlic (Pungent.).

More on EveryMasala

No spices here yet. New pages are added every day.

Sources and further reading

About this page

Original text and drawings by the EveryMasala desk, written with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. The shares are an illustrative, traditional-style ratio, not a standard: every family and maker blends differently. If we have something wrong, tell us.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

The weekly digest

Every Monday: seven spices you may not know, what is cooking this week, and one blend explained step by step.