Kimchi Too Sour? How to Fix It, and What to Cook With It Instead
Got a jar of kimchi too sour to eat straight from the fridge? How to fix it depends on what you want it for. You can knock the acid back a little in the jar itself (sugar, a pinch of baking soda, a rinse), or you can stop fighting it and cook it, which is what most Korean home kitchens do with that jar anyway. The in-jar fixes buy you a milder side dish, not a fresh one, and I'd rather say that before the tricks. The stew pot gives you something better than what you started with. Why It Went Sour Faster Than You Expected Kimchi doesn't go off when it turns sour. It keeps fermenting. The lactic acid bacteria that give it its taste never stop working; cold only slows them down, and how much cold matters more than most people think. A 2022 study in Foods tracked packaged kimchi at four storage temperatures. At 20°C (68°F) the pH fell to 4.11 within 2 days. At 10°C it took 6 days to reach a similar point. At 5°C, close to where a household fridge sits, it held fairly steady t...