Kimchi

September is a great time to make kimchi. The ingredients are easy to get at the farmer's market if you don't grow them yourself.

Since I'm the only one at the house who enjoys kimchi, I just make one quart that lasts in the fridge for months.

Usually during the first cold/wet spell of weather when there isn't anything to do out in the garden is when I make this using Sandor Katz' recipe. I take one small head of Chinese cabbage and cut it into thin strips and soak it in salty water over night (about 4 tablespoons to 2 quarts of water). Then I drain it well in the morning and add thinly sliced daikon radish (about 3/4 cup) and one or two green onions -- about half a cup. All these measurements are flexible.

Then in another bowl I blend two tablespoons of grated fresh ginger, two tablespoons finely chopped ginger and one or two Thai chili peppers. I used a pestle and mortar to mix into a paste and then mix the paste into the veggies with my hands. If you just drain the water from the cabbage and you don't rinse it, there will still be enough salt in the cabbage that you don't need to add more. The veggies will leach water so that when you stuff the mixture into a quart jar, there will be liquid that forms above it and covers it. Cover this will a clean dry cloth and let it sit at room temperature for a few days until it begins to ferment -- you'll see some bubbles and it will start to taste tangy or sour. Then put a lid on the jar, let sit at room temp until it tastes like what you want it to taste like -- maybe another day or two, maybe up to a week. Then put it in the fridge and it's ready to use.