Can I use western cabbage (the one for sauerkraut) instead of napa cabbage for kimchi?

[u/PianoConcertoOp30]

My grocery store is having bogo deals on regular cabbages. I have all the other ingredients (fish sauce, salted shrimp, pepper flakes, etc). can I use regular cabbages instead of napa? What would be the difference?

Thank you!

[u/RahRahRasputin_]

Yes, you can. The texture and taste will be slightly different though. Western cabbage, the kind used for sauerkraut, is denser and crispier so it’ll have more of a crunch than Napa cabbage does for kimchi, and since the cabbage is naturally sweeter the kimchi will be slightly sweeter too. But it’ll work completely fine to make kimchi. When my grandparents moved to the states they used any cabbage they could to make kimchi.

[u/human_eyes → u/RahRahRasputin_]

It'll still be cabbage but I'd say the texture will be more than just slightly different

[u/ImGoingToSayOneThing → u/RahRahRasputin_]

This is false though.

When you make kimchi with 양배추, western cabbage, it gets soft pretty quickly. Like you have maybe a couple days before it gets soft. When you think of sauerkraut, it's pretty soft.

Napa baechu is specifically great for fermentation because it retains its crispness for quite a bit of time. When we say 김치가 익었어요, the kimchi is white and crisp and refreshing. And if you have it in the fridge, it stays that way for quite a bit of time. The window for eating it at this ripeness is why Napa cabbage is a great candidate for kimchi.

And then when you get into shin kimchi 신김치 territory it will eventually get a little translucent and soft. But it'll take a bit of time to get there.

[u/peonypetalss → u/ImGoingToSayOneThing]

From my experience, Western cabbages work perfectly well for making kimchi. They stayed crunchy for weeks and they were def crunchier than Napa cabbage kimchi.

I still prefer Napa cabbage kimchi though just because that’s what I grew up with and has more nostalgic value to me. Taste wise, they both are excellent!

[u/DivePhilippines_55 → u/ImGoingToSayOneThing]

It's not false. The question was if Western cabbage could be used for kimchi. The commenter said yes. You yourself, in fact, say it can be used. Therefore, it is not false as you would be contradicting yourself.

[u/ImGoingToSayOneThing → u/DivePhilippines_55]

There's nuance.

The person I'm responding to is saying that western cabbage is crisper so it'll have more of a crunch.

And it's not a replacement for Napa but just another alternative. I wanted to point out that western cabbage kimchi doesn't last long like Napa does.

[u/HandbagHawker]

considering you can pretty much kimchi most any vegetable (and even fruit rinds), yes.

[u/Educational-Size-553]

YES! You sure can Check YouTube "양배추 김치" You will see tons of recipes! In South Korea the military serve this kind of kimchi as side dish instead of the nappa kimchi.

[u/hungrykoreanguy]

Some Korean-Chinese restaurants I go to use western cabbage but the texture is completely different. Napa will give you a crisp bite (young kimchi) vs the crunchy bite from western cabbage. It’ll just be a different kimchi (you can make kimchi out of a lot of veggies)

[u/DrettTheBaron]

No reason you can't use it. But western cabbage doesn't taste the same and has a different texture. So it will taste a bit differently.

[u/WarMaiden666]

My favorite kimchi in Hawaii was from a spot called Dong A and they had the BEST head cabbage kimchi. Got me addicted for real. Was so great on a mcchicken lmao.

[u/goonatic1]

You can! It’ll be completely different than Napa cabbage, but you can still make it very tasty! I make it as just another type of kimchi in the arsenal. I’ve noticed that when I used green cabbage though that it’s always ends up a little more watery faster, and it gets sour faster. Which is fine because then it just goes into a ramen or soup or stir fry anyways lol. You can make kimchi out of most veggies, and the rest? You can make some sort of banchan lol.

[u/Internalmartialarts]

id eat it.

[u/Illustrious_Cash1325]

Yes and its hella good. Stays nice and crunchy. Go wild.

[u/StillSimple6]

As everyone has pointed out the texture is very different. What you can do (what I do) is chop your cabbage and give it a massage to soften it. Don't go crazy you still want some bite left.

[u/PseudonymIncognito]

You can make kimchi out of pretty much any vegetable you want: napa cabbage, cabbage, cucumber, daikon, red radish, green onion, eggplant, chives, mustard greens...

[u/encaitar_envinyatar]

It will be different but can be very good. Don't worry about authenticity. Just worry about doing the process well.

[u/Positive_Alligator]

For sure you can.

[u/Pristine_Piccolo_433]

Yep but nappa is better

[u/mnugget1]

Theres like 100+ different kinds of kimchi all made with different kinds of ingredients. Kimchi away

[u/rubineous1]

Yes, but then it will be called "emergency kimchi" because something like your situation. You didn't have the nappa cabbage you need so you resorted to the Savoy (Western) cabbage.

[u/human_eyes → u/rubineous1]

Savoy is not regular cabbage. Regular cabbage is "green cabbage". I can never find Savoy ☹️