Kimchi is a Korean staple food steeped in tradition and born out of necessity. The pickling of vegetables was an ideal method, prior to refrigerators, that helped to preserve the lifespan of foods.
In Korea, Kimchi was traditionally made during the winter by fermenting vegetables, and burying it in the ground in traditional brown ceramic pots called Onggi. This tradition of food preservation further allowed a bonding among women within the family as it was taken by generations of women, recipes passed down within families.
We saw a correlation with our own traditions of passing down family recipes, particularly in our case of a family Christmas cake. We thought about how we could we put our own British traditions as a twist on traditional kimchi and started the process of formulating ideas.
There is nothing as quintessentially British as a Roast dinner, a staple food with long traditions we could instantly see the similarities. We did a test run of fermented winter veggies including Brussels sprouts, parsnips, carrots and swede and whilst it came out as a beautiful earthy winter veg kimchi, it missed a certain something…
Whilst discussing potential flavours and herbs and spices, we thought of the condiments served with a classic roast and landed on horseradish. Horseradish is often substituted or even included as a base in wasabi so we decided to try a batch with some wasabi in the mix. Wow, What a combination, the wasabi was just the thing the earthy veg needed. Taking our roast dinner kimchi to the next level, we were sold!
Whilst we were perfecting our recipe, we were approached by the production team for Aldi’s next big thing who very much liked the sound of our roast dinner kimchi and wanted us to pitch to Julie Ashfield the managing director of buying for Aldi. I know, massive right?
Well, we were so honoured and thrilled to be given an opportunity of this scale, we instantly said yes and earlier in the year we made our way to Aldi HQ to film our episode. Our category was healthy and wholesome alongside six other fantastic small businesses, from camel milk to snacking fava beans and kids treats.
Time for a teaser, Julie’s main piece of feedback and homework was for us to go away and work on a smaller jar, so you may have noticed we have launched for autumn a selection of our core products in a smaller size.
We are in episode 3, which is live on Channel 4 at 8pm on the 3rd of November and as for how it went… well you will just have to watch and find out!
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