Ji-Young Park 박지영

From Busan to London — My Kimchi Journey

I grew up in Busan, in a household where kimchi was not an ingredient — it was a rhythm. My halmoni (grandmother) made kimchi twice a year in enormous batches. Autumn meant baechu-kimchi from napa cabbages she bought from the Jagalchi market. Spring meant oi sobagi from cucumbers she grew herself. I started helping when I was 8 years old.

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1998

Where it started

First kimchi at 8 years old

My halmoni handed me her red gochugaru-stained gloves and let me mix the paste for the first time. “You learn by watching for years before you do,” she said. So I watched.

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2006

The first independent batch

My first solo kimchi — wrong salt, valuable lesson

At 16, I used iodized table salt. It didn’t ferment. No bubbles after 5 days. My grandmother laughed — not unkindly. That failed batch is why I wrote the most detailed iodized salt warning on this site.

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2012

The move to London

Korean food in a city with no Korean grocery nearby

I moved to London for work. No gochugaru within 2 miles. I had to source substitutes, test them, fail with some, succeed with others. This made me understand kimchi at an ingredient level I never had in Korea.

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2024

KimchiGuide.com launches

The site born from 15 years of answered questions

A Korean friend asked: “What kimchi do I use for jjigae?” I gave a 20-minute answer. She said “you should write this down.” No site was dedicated entirely to kimchi. So I built one.

What I Know Best

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Baechu Kimchi (배추김치)

Traditional napa cabbage kimchi — the classic. Made 200+ individual batches. Know every failure mode.

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Lacto-fermentation Science

Lactobacillus bacteria, lactic acid production, salt ratios, temperature effects — self-taught through 400+ test batches.

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Cooking With Kimchi

Which fermentation stage works for which dish. Caramelisation. Broth-building. Every cooked application tested.

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Vegan Kimchi Adaptations

Fish sauce substitutes tested extensively. Kelp broth, soy-miso combinations, honest taste ratings.

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Kimchi Health Research

2024–25 clinical trials. Probiotics, gut health, weight loss research. Cited sources only.

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Kimchi Fusion Cooking

Korean flavour applied to Western contexts — grilled cheese, pasta, tacos. Testing what works and why.

What I Know That Most Guides Don’t Cover

• 🧂
  Why iodized salt destroys fermentation

  Iodine inhibits Lactobacillus bacteria. I discovered this through my failed first batch. Most English-language recipes say “use coarse salt” without explaining the chemistry. I tested iodized vs non-iodized side by side — the iodized batch showed zero fermentation after 5 days.
• 🌡️
  How temperature controls fermentation speed — precisely

  At 18°C, kimchi takes 4–5 days to reach Stage 2. At 24°C, the same stage arrives in 2 days. London kitchens run cold — I’ve adapted recipes for both warm and cool environments. The fermentation calculator on this site is based on my own temperature tests over 3 winters.
• 🍚
  Why rice rinse water makes better jjigae

  Ssalddeumul (쌀뜨물) — the milky water from rinsing rice — contains starch particles that give kimchi jjigae broth a silkier, rounder body. A technique my grandmother used that I’ve never seen properly explained in any English-language recipe.
• 🏺
  Traditional jangdok fermentation vs modern refrigerator methods

  My grandmother used onggi jars buried in the ground. The constant temperature and oxygen-limited environment produced kimchi with different microbial complexity than refrigerator-fermented kimchi. I document these differences for readers who have access to them.
• 🐟
  Why canned tuna oil in jjigae is not optional

  Every English-language tuna jjigae recipe says “drain the tuna.” This is wrong. The oil is the functional equivalent of pork fat — it builds broth and carries flavour. I tested drained vs oil-in tuna in 12 batches. Drained version consistently produced thin, flat broth.

My Testing Methodology

Every recipe on KimchiGuide.com goes through this process. This is what makes the Test Kitchen Notes credible.

• 1
  Identify the key variables

  Before cooking once, I list every variable that could affect the result: pan type, kimchi age, broth base, heat level, timing. For kimchi jjigae, this produced 6 testable variables.
• 2
  Test one variable at a time

  Each test changes only one thing. Cast iron vs non-stick = everything else identical. 6-week kimchi vs 3-week kimchi = everything else identical. Clean, useful results.
• 3
  Taste blind where possible

  My partner tastes both versions without knowing which is which. His Manchester palate represents the Western reader trying kimchi dishes for the first time.
• 4
  Document failures honestly

  Failures go into the Test Kitchen Notes section. The iodized salt failure, the gentle-simmer jjigae failure — these teach more than successes.
• 5
  Final recipe tested 3× before publication

  Once the best method is confirmed, I make the full recipe three more times to confirm consistency. If it produces inconsistent results, I go back to testing.

Key Discoveries Over 15 Years

Find Me Online

I share recipe development, fermentation experiments, and Korean food culture across five platforms. All content is created personally — no agency, no outsourced posts.

KimchiGuide in the Wild

How KimchiGuide Maintains Accuracy

What I’ve Been Testing

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Core Recipes

Kimchi Jjigae — Restaurant-Style at Home

Read Recipe →

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Core Recipes

Kimchi Fried Rice — Classic + 7 Variations

Read Recipe →

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Fermentation Guide

How to Make Kimchi at Home — Complete Beginner Guide

Read Guide →