San-gat Chimchae (Wild-Mustard Water Pickle)

History

Jang Gye-hyang's manuscript records this sangat-chimchae — a water pickle of sangat, the peppery wild mountain-mustard green — as one of several early chimchae (침채) kept in the book. It is a documented window onto kimchi before chili: Eumsik dimibang contains no chili pepper and no gochujang, because the New-World chili had not yet spread through Korean cooking when she wrote. The pickle here is therefore a white, brined ferment, not the red, spicy dish familiar today; the greens are trimmed, washed, briefly warmed in hot water, packed into a small jar, and ripened by keeping the jar warm — set on a heated ondol floor wrapped in cloth, or gently warmed in a pot until it matures. The dish also carries the word's own history. "Kimchi" descends from the Sino-Korean 沈菜, "submerged vegetable" (read chimchae in Korean), recorded in Middle Korean as thimchoy/timchoy (딤ᄎᆡ) and shifting over centuries through jimchi to kimchi. Chili reached Korea only in the early 1600s and did not become common in kimchi until the 19th century, so the red-pepper kimchi of today is a later layer over this older brined tradition. Its bite came instead from the mustard green itself, sharpened by period seasonings like mustard, cheoncho, and ginger.

Ingredients

• mountain mustard greens (san-gat)
• water
• salt

Instructions

1. Trim the mustard greens, wash in cold water, rinse in warm water, and pack in a small jar.
2. Pour in lukewarm-heated water.
3. Ripen by wrapping the jar on a warm ondol floor, or by double-boiling if the floor is cool.
4. Avoid overheating (scalds/bitter) or underheating (won't ripen).