• 한국식생활문화학회지
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• 제36권3호
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• pp.265-273
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• 2021

The Chinese Sigyeong records the foods of the Primitive Pickling Period, pickling being a universal vegetable storage method, but does not indicate the origin of the pickled vegetables or the location of the source of transmission. Kimchi mainly used salt and sauce-based soaking materials at the beginning of the Fermented Pickling Period (beginning in the 1st to 3rd centuries A.D.), and it differed from the Chinese method, which used alcohol and vinegar. In the Umami-Flavored Pickling Period (beginning in the 14th and 15th centuries A.D.), jeotgal, fermented seafoods, were added, and pickles with a completely new identity were created, one different from any other pickles in the world. Lastly, entering the Complex Fermentation and Pickling Period (beginning in the 17th and 18th centuries), the technical process evolved using a separate special seasoning containing red pepper as the secondary immersion source after pickling in brine, the primary immersion source. As a result of this, kimchi was transformed into a food with a unique form and taste not found anywhere else. The unique characteristic of kimchi is that the composition of original materials, a combination of salted marine life and vegetable ingredients, is its core identity, and there is a methodological difference in that it is completed through a second process called saesaengchae (生菜)-chimchae (沈菜).