What kind of cabbage for kimchi?

[nomadmom]

I'm about to make my first batch of kimchi, and the recipe I'm using calls for napa cabbage. First of all, does it matter which kind you use? Second, I'm in the UK and can't find anything labeled napa. Aside from the round, pale green kind, I've seen savoy and sweetheart. Which should I use?

[redvlagrl]

Napa cabbage is wong bok.

It is NOT at all the same as savoy or white.
http://www.orientalcookbook.co.uk/ch...vegetables.php

ETA: Regular cabbage won't work for kim chee.

[nomadmom]

Originally Posted by redvlagrl

ETA: Regular cabbage won't work for kim chee.

When you say it won't work, do you mean the recipe will fail, or just that it won't taste like traditional kimchi? The store I went in yesterday didn't have anything that looked like napa (the closest in appearance was the sweetheart, aka "pointed" cabbage), but I'll check another store today. Thanks for your help.

[redvlagrl]

Kind of both. It wont' taste right and it will take a LOT longer to ferment. You'll basically be making spiced sauerkraut.

you might have to visit an asian supermarket (not indian - chinese), though I would have thought a larger high end supermarket would be ok.

[nomadmom]

Well, crap. I've never eaten kimchi, so I wouldn't know if it tasted right or not, lol. Why would a different type of cabbage take longer to ferment? I have looked in a major supermarket as well as my local co-op and neither had napa. I bought a head of sweetheart, and it's already salted and soaking. Maybe I'll get lucky and it will taste good even if it's not completely authentic. Next time, I'll make the trip to an Asian market, but I'm making this recipe on a whim and didn't want to travel just for a head of cabbage!

[redvlagrl]

kim chee only takes a few days - my sauerkraut takes weeks. It's a much more fibrous beast. Napa is very much like the texture of bok choi - crystaline in an almost iceberg lettuce-like way. Think brussels sprouts vs spinach as an analogy. it's a totally different veggie.