Day 7- Pungmi Kimchi Factory

What do you think about when you think of Korean food? Of course, it has to be kimchi, a staple of the Korean cuisine! As a fellow kimchi, I felt excited to visit this kimchi factory to find out how my friends will be made!

We were first led into a room where we watched a video about Pungmi Factory. Afterwards, we were shown how to make the spicy seasoning used to add flavour to the fermented vegetable. Various ingredients were used, such as chilli powder and garlic. The demonstration continued as the spicy mix was rubbed onto the cabbage, layer by layer. One tip we were given was to rub more of the spicy seasoning at the base of the cabbage, as that part was the thickest and hence needed more flavour.

The finishing step was to wrap up the cabbage nicely using the two outer leaves. We got a chance to try some of the freshly made kimchi too! It was delicious and very, very spicy. Afterwards, we were told that we can try our hand at making our own kimchi–which would be given to the needy elderly! Let me just tell you that making kimchi is not as easy as it seems. You need to have the right amount of seasoning in each layer, and the hardest step of all was wrapping the kimchi up.

After some assistance from the kimchi experts at Pungmi Factory, we all finished making our kimchi. I tried my best to make a beautiful and tasty looking kimchi for the elderly. Here’s a picture of mine!

Our stop at Pungmi Kimchi Factory did not stop here though. We visited a kimchi museum upstairs and learnt more about the history of kimchi. For example, there are over 100 varieties of kimchi, like cubed radish kimchi and red water kimchi.

Lastly, we went down to the basement and got to see firsthand how the kimchi was made! The factory was filled with workers busy making kimchi. It was great to see how fast and efficient they worked. And that was how we spent our time at the Pungmi Kimchi Factory!

Written by Peggy Tan as ODAO