Mold

Mold is the commonest problem with making probiotic vegies. The main cause is having air contact the vegies. Salt and acid help prevent mold, and keeping the vegies submerged.

Slime

If the wrong bacteria get going, you can get slimy vegetables. I’ve never had this happen with cabbage, but I’ve heard of it when people are fermenting just carrots. The cure would be using a starter culture, more acid, or more salt.

Flies

The little tiny “vinegar flies” just love fermenting vegetables. In the old days, they commonly laid eggs and their larvae hatched into the broth. Today we just consider this gross, so you need to make sure the container is fly-proof.

Mush

If you allow things to ferment more than two days at room temp, sometimes they get mushy. This can also happen with an unfortunate mix of bacteria. Cabbage Kimchi seems to not do this easily, but when I tried making pickles from cucumbers they got mushy spots. Using a lower fermenting temperature would be a way to avoid this. Also, when you store Kimchi, I’m told it keeps better if you drain the liquid from it. Once it is sour, it does not mold or spoil easily.

Off Taste

The taste depends largely on the mix of bacteria growing in the Kimchi. When it is first ready to eat, after 2 days, it still may not taste as good as it does after a week “ripening” in the fridge. The taste may vary a bit from batch to batch too, depending on the fermentation temperature, how long you salted the cabbage, how much salt you used, and other spices. However, if it smells bad, then don’t taste it. It should smell cleanly acidic (and if you used Korean spices, then it will also smell like ginger and garlic and pepper!). If it smells like garbage, then the wrong bacteria are growing. I’ve never had that happen though.

Food poisoning

So far I’ve never met anyone who actually got sick off Kimchi. It is theoretically possible, however. It is a good idea to keep raw chicken and beef away from the mix, and keep your hands and work tools clean. Do NOT heat or otherwise try to sterilize the Kimchi before putting it in the fridge: the living bacteria are what protects it and helps it keep so well.

Allergies

I have met a couple of people with multiple chemical sensitivities who react to Kimchi. These people also react to a lot of other foods, and we never could quite figure out what it was in the Kimchi that bothered them. However, when you ferment a food, lots of organic compounds are created. Most of them are good for you, and they are compounds that are also created in your gut when you digest foods, but if you have a chemical sensitivity they might be a problem

 

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