Persimmon Kimchi

I serve as chef-in-residence at our annual church retreats. Served this kimchi at this year's event -- and it was a hit! Our international congregation has many Korean members and they were thrilled to see the kimchi offered in the salad bar! It packs a kick -- more than the kimchi at our local Korean restaurant -- so warn your guests when you serve it! None of our folk thought it was too hot, though. It had just the right amount of OOMPH -- and the persimmons had enough sweet to offset the heat of the cayenne pepper that was used.  -  28 Oct 2010  (Review from Allrecipes USA and Canada)

I have never had "authentic" kimchi so I can't rate the recipe that way, but this recipe is delicious. It was a hit with my family and guests. I have made it twice, once a veggie version and once with one TBSP of fish sauce. I ended up soaking the cabbage in salt for about 3-4 hours. I did not have persimmons, so I used one sweet apple instead. I used about two tsps of good quality hot chili powder (the kind from an asian grocer) and it was spicy but great. I offered rice with the kimchi and some had it over rice, some just ate it straight.  -  03 Oct 2010  (Review from Allrecipes USA and Canada)

Born & raised in Seoul, and having tried many varieties of kimchi in my 39 years, I found this recipe very hard to call "Authentic Korean" as 1. Cayenne pepper isn't native to Korea so its not used in their cooking. The flavor profile alone of cayenne compared to Korean red peppers is very different AND the fiery red color in dishes isn't prominent when cayenne is used. Its recommended to use coarse salt, not fine grain table salt to cure the cabbage for better flavor. Also, understanding this is a "Vegan" dish, its hard to give the full robust and interesting flavors of real kimchi without using some kind of fish/shellfish oil, shrimp paste or oysters to assist in the fermentation process. Kimchi is pickled vegetables, using rice vinegar, which this recipe lacks too. The persimmon is a great twist as pear or apple is traditionally used in place of white sugar for the hint of sweet. The Korean red pepper flakes/powder can be easily found at any Asian market, along with the rock salt and rice vinegar. In many places, these items are readily available at your "regular" grocery store in the ethnic foods section. I tried to make this kimchi recipe, but the flavors I was expecting from a kimchi were not present, it lacked the pungent sweet/sour/pickled taste in real kimchi.  -  01 Sep 2012  (Review from Allrecipes USA and Canada)