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Vegetables from Korea

Pa kimchi (green-onion kimchi)파김치

Pa kimchi is green onions, salted in brine and mixed with a paste of red pepper powder, garlic, ginger, glutinous rice paste, sugar and anchovy sauce. It ferments more slowly than cabbage kimchi. Its strong smell and sharp, pungent bite come from the onion itself.

Fully documentedVegetables5.2 days – 34 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe amounts are the recipe of a 2019 study (Table 1), per batch of 1500 g of salted green onions, with a target salt of 2.5 %. The study's control batch used the anchovy sauce shown here, and its blank batch left it out. Household recipes vary and have no fixed amounts.
Green onions1500 g (salted)Soaked in 10 % brine, rinsed and drained before mixing[lee2019]
Red pepper powder120 g[lee2019]
Garlic30 g[lee2019]
Ginger30 g[lee2019]
Glutinous rice paste225 gMade from glutinous rice flour and water at 1 to 10[lee2019]
Sugar30 g[lee2019]
Anchovy sauce (myeolchi-aekjeot)150 gAn important source of biogenic amines in the study[lee2019]
Starterspontaneous

Total time across the recorded steps: 5.2 days – 34 days

Start
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Close-up: salt moving into a grainSalt 10 %

What changes: Salt brine wilts the whole green onions

Step 1 of 4
Soak the green onions in brine
Time
3 h
Reported
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
10 %
Reported
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Leuconostoc
Lactobacillus
Flavour
Not documented
Texture
stems soften and bend
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Pa kimchi is green onions, salted in brine and mixed with a paste of red pepper powder, garlic, ginger, glutinous rice paste, sugar and anchovy sauce. It ferments more slowly than cabbage kimchi. Its strong smell and sharp, pungent bite come from the onion itself. Made in 4 steps over 5.2 days – 34 days. The longest step, ferment, takes 5–34 days (Lee J.-H 2019) and runs at 10–25 °C (Lee H.-J 1999). Salt is 10 % (Lee J.-H 2019). Leuconostoc mesenteroides and Lactobacillus plantarum, the main lactic bacteria when it is well ripened and Levilactobacillus brevis, which made tyramine, putrescine and cadaverine in some strains do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step5–34 daysReported[lee2019][lee1999]Ferment
Temperature10–25 °CReported[lee1999][lee2019]Ferment
Salt10 %Reported[lee2019]Soak the green onions in brine
AciditypH 4.3–5.7Measured[lee2019]Ferment

What makes this one different

Pa kimchi ferments more slowly than cabbage kimchi. In a comparison, fewer Leuconostoc and Lactobacillus reached their peak in pa kimchi, its sugar stayed higher to the end of the ferment, and at 10 °C it was still fermenting after 34 days.

Related ferments

Safety

In a 2019 survey, 6 of 13 market pa kimchi samples held about two to four times the 100 mg/kg histamine level suggested as safe, and 5 of 13 were over that level for tyramine. In the same study the anchovy sauce was an important source of the amines, and Levilactobacillus brevis strains from the kimchi made tyramine and putrescine.

Hazards the sources name: Biogenic amines (histamine up to 386 mg/kg and tyramine up to 181 mg/kg in market pa kimchi).

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

The 15th-century Sangayorok and the 16th-century Suunjabang record two early forms of pa kimchi, one soaked in brine and one salted hard like jjanji. The onions were left unpeeled for months from summer or autumn and peeled to eat in winter, so the aim was long storage. The Encyclopedia of Korean Folk Culture presumes that today's seasoned pa kimchi took shape in late Joseon, when salted seafood, chilli, garlic and ginger became the standard kimchi seasonings. It also notes that seasoned kimchi developed fully in the 19th century.

  1. [lee2019] Lee J.-H., Jin Y.H., Park Y.K., Yun S.J. and Mah J.-H. 2019, Formation of biogenic amines in pa (green onion) kimchi and gat (mustard leaf) kimchi, Foods 8(3), 109paper
  2. [lee1999] Lee H.-J., Joo Y.-J., Park C.-S., Lee J.-S., Park Y.-H., Ahn J.-S. and Mheen T.-I. 1999, Fermentation patterns of green onion kimchi and Chinese cabbage kimchi, Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology 31(2), 488–494 (abstract)paper
  3. [nfm-pakimchi] National Folk Museum of Korea, Encyclopedia of Korean Folk Culture, Korean Food, Clothing and Housing (한국의식주생활사전), 파김치; cites Park Chae-rin, Joseon sidae kimchi-ui tansaeng (2013); KOGL type 2, facts only; read 2026-10book