Found out my kimchi was failing because of tap water chlorine

I've been making kimchi for about 3 years now and kept getting batches that turned soft and moldy after just a week. Read a post on a Korean cooking blog that said tap water chlorine kills the good bacteria you need for fermentation. So I tested it. Made two batches side by side - one with tap water, one with filtered water that sat out for 24 hours. The filtered batch lasted 3 weeks and stayed crisp. The tap water batch went bad in 6 days. Now I always let my water sit out overnight before using it. Anyone else run into this issue with their ferments?

2 comments

2 Comments

richardrodriguez26d ago

Is letting water sit out really enough to get rid of all that chlorine?

felix38526d ago

Actually used to think the whole water thing was overhyped junk science until I did my own test like you. Let two bowls of water sit out for 24 hours and tested them with a pool test strip, the chlorine level dropped by more than half. So yeah, I was wrong about that one.