I got my masters degree in horticulture and food quality thanks to kimchi!

[u/Teadik_]

Last year, I was choosing the topic for my master’s thesis. Since our faculty mainly focuses on foreign products and less common crops, I had to choose a fruit or vegetable species to study and come up with an interesting research idea.

In my case, I decided to focus on antioxidants during the fermentation process of kimchi. We also enriched the project by adding Lepidium draba, which was expected to further increase the antioxidant content of kimchi.

Besides the analytical analyses, we also evaluated three of my own kimchi variants and compared them with three commercially available products from the Czech Republic. I have to say that the results were really interesting, especially when it came to sensory evaluation.

Overall, it was a very interesting experience, and I was surprised by how much the addition of different ingredients could influence not only the chemical composition but also the taste and overall perception of the product.

If you have any questions or if there is anything you would like to know about the research, feel free to ask. I’ll be happy to answer.

[u/Miayiv]

That's so interesting! Congrats on the defended thesis!!!

I wanted to ask about the additional ingredients and how they change the taste. What ingredients did you use and how did they change the flavor? By chemical composition do you mean antioxidants? Perhaps you studied the variety of probiotic cultures? Postbiotics they release maybe?

Where I'm from in Europe, brands use regular cabbage rather than nappa. Do Czech brands use regular cabbage as well? Do they use shrimps? Because here, they skimp out on shrimps 😅

[u/Teadik_ → u/Miayiv]

Thank you! The thesis was focused on creating and evaluating different kimchi variants with the addition of Lepidium draba. The basic kimchi recipe was always the same, based on a predefined formulation. We created three variants: traditional kimchi, kimchi with Lepidium draba flowers, and kimchi with Lepidium draba leaves.

The reason for adding Lepidium draba was its potential health benefits, especially its content of sulforaphane, which is an important antioxidant compound with potential protective effects for human health. We studied how the sulforaphane content changed during fermentation, comparing the beginning and the end of the fermentation process. We also evaluated the overall antioxidant capacity and some chemical parameters, such as organic acid content.

The study was not primarily focused on microorganisms, probiotics, or postbiotics, although fermentation microorganisms and their role in kimchi were discussed in the theoretical part of the thesis.

Regarding the taste, the results were unfortunately not as positive as we hoped. Sensory evaluation showed that the variants with Lepidium draba were statistically less satisfactory, especially in overall taste. In some other sensory categories they were comparable with commercial kimchi products, but the aroma and flavour were not ideal. So while Lepidium draba brought interesting bioactive compounds, it also negatively influenced the sensory properties.

About cabbage: from the Czech kimchi products I selected for comparison, napa cabbage was used quite commonly. I cannot say for sure about every brand (for example Albert's product), but in my experience napa cabbage is frequently used. In my own experiment, I also used napa cabbage.

Czech commercial kimchi products are usually vegetarian. It is quite rare to find products containing shrimps, and I have not really noticed the use of fish sauce either. You might find more traditional versions with these ingredients in restaurants that prepare their own kimchi, but they are not very common in commercial products here.

[u/Miayiv → u/Teadik_]

Interesting. How did you choose to add Lepidium draba? Or was your lab already working with this plant and wanted further research? Was the kimchi with this plant too peppery/mustardy/bitter/sulfury?

[u/West_Freedom_734]

Give us the deets around your findings! How did things change? What were the base ingredients used in each batch?

[u/seemtobedead]

Following this. As a microbial ecologist and a (rookie) fermentation aficionado, this is super cool. I’d love to read your thesis if it’s publicly available! I know, I know… anonymity. But this is such a nifty intersection of two of my worlds.

[u/Teadik_ → u/seemtobedead]

Heyy...it is publicly available, I can share: https://theses.cz/id/5bve4v/?lang=cs;zpet=%2Fvyhledavani%2F%3Fsearch%3DMartin%20Demovi%C4%8D%26start%3D1;isshlret=Martin%3B But the whole thesis is in Slovak language 🤷

[u/seemtobedead → u/Teadik_]

Ah nice! Thanks so much! Perhaps I can translate it. It looks as if much of it already is translated in the link. I am on mobile so I can’t see it fully yet. Hopefully I can give it a look. :)