North-West Kimchi enterprise bottling up the good stuff

It may seem like a new fad but fermenting foods is a 5000-year-old tradition which has found a new lease of life in Tasmania.

Sue Glynn who makes Kimchi at Wiltshire near Stanley. Picture: CHRIS KIDD

THE spicy Korean daily staple Kimchi and the Tasmanian town of Stanley may not seem like a natural fit.

But it appears a dynamic duo who escaped the Sydney rat race four years ago have landed in the right place, with the right idea and at the right time.

The fermented food movement is going gangbusters.

Fermenting Australia founder Sammi Zajko said the awareness of the importance of fermented food, and the live bacteria it contains, for gut health began gaining momentum five years ago.

“That awareness and interest has exploded in the last two years,” Ms Zajko said.

“There is nothing new or trendy about it, however. People have been fermenting food for thousands of years. We are just catching up.”

Korean-born Sue Glynn and her lawyer husband Tom came to Tasmania after touring Australia looking for a place to settle outside of Sydney.

They thought they had found that place at Yolla before visiting Stanley and deciding that was the spot for them.

Sue Glynn with some of her produce at Wiltshire near Stanley. Picture: CHRIS KIDD

At Wiltshire, just outside of Stanley, Sue grows the vegetables she needs for her kimchi recipe — daikon radish, red and green cabbage, swedes, kale and Russian-style garlic.

To that she adds chilli, fish sauce, brown rice, brown sugar and the all-important fermentation ingredient which gives the recipe a Tasmanian twist — apple juice from Spreyton.

It takes about two weeks, depending on the temperature, for the vegetables to ferment and then it is bottled.

She produces about 100 bottles, marketed under the brand KimchiMe, each week.

Currently, the kimchi goes into supermarkets and delicatessens in Tasmania and Victoria. But a product sample sent to China this week could open export doors in Asia.

“It will be marketed in China along with Cape Grim beef as a unique, classy, niche Tasmanian product,” Mrs Glynn said.

KimchiMe will also be part of the upcoming Australian Fine Food Awards in Melbourne.

Mrs Glynn says she has the capacity as a one-person operation to produce 1500 bottles of kimchi a week if demand is there.

She learnt to make kimchi from her grandmother who also learnt the knack as a child.

“I eat it every day and in Korea it is a staple part of every meal,” she said from her vegetable patch,.

“It is so good for you and also tasty. Luckily other cultures, including Australia, are catching on and my particular recipe is doing well.

“Fermenting food is nothing new. It is not only the Koreans who are big on it but the Germans and Vietnamese. I do not add shrimp and other very pungent products to my kimchi but tweak it for an Australian palate.

“Also the vegetables grown here taste so different and give the kimchi a beautiful taste.”

Research has shown that one mouthful of a fermented food had the health benefits of one bottle of probiotic tablets.

“It is great for digestive health and for the absorption of vitamins and minerals,” Ms Zajko said.

“People used to say ‘you are what you eat’. Really, we are what we absorb.

“To say a food is teeming with live bacteria might not sound that appetising but people should not be scared and embrace that bacteria as a recipe for good health.”