How long does kimchee stay good for?

[ComaWhite]

I discovered 2 jars of kimchee i made last december in the back of my fridge.
I opened them up and although it looks slightly discolored, it smells fine.
Would they still be edible or should I toss it??

[saratc]

Wow, you must have a deep fridge!
I would say it's fine. Fermented veggies should be fine for that long and if it's bad, the smell would put you off so much there's no way you would eat it. I think it just gets mushier/less crunchy in texture and more sour.

[estuary]

That's my experience with kimchi as well - that it just becomes too sour. If the smell isn't bad, try a taste and see if you still like it... my dh only likes fresh kimchi while I'm more likely to enjoy a week or two of ripening (after that there won't be any left). I've never eaten year-old kimchi though - maybe that's going to be the next big thing, 'aged kimchi'. ?

[Brookesmom]

I brought some kimchi from California and took over a year to eat it opened it the fridge, no problem.

-Kelly

[Hibou]

I would just skim off the top layer of veggies if they weren't under any brine.

I find my kimchi gets better with age. I have a batch in the fridge from last spring and it's better now than when I made it.

[mariposita]

Just wanted to add - Koreans use sour kimchi (what they call really fermented kimchi) to make a soup called "kimchi chige". I had some this week and it's delicious!!!

My Korean MIL eats kimchi months later if she hasn't gotten around to it. It should be fine as long as it's in the brine.

[estuary]

Oh! I just thought of another use for really sour kimchi! I'd forgotten the thing that we call Kimchi Bing (a weirdo cross of korean and chinese words meaning something like a kimchi pancake). These would be something like crepes sort of....

I don't have a recipe, just do it by feel - and I wish you luck!:

Ingredients: sour kimchi, eggs (beaten), olive oil, and whole wheat flour (my friend who taught me this actually tended to use rice flour, so the no-gluten folks could do that, maybe with brown rice flour instead of the typical sweet rice flour (?))

directions:

drain the kimchi juice into a bowl. Chop up the vegetables. To the kimchi juice add eggs, oil, and vegetables. Mix in enough flour to generate a batter consistency (if you want to add more flour for a puffier pancake, maybe add some baking soda). Heata skillet and using any sort of fat you want (I usually use either lard or olive oil), fry the batter 'til it's done...

Completely non-specific, sorry, but oh so yummy!