A Korean family recipe, fermented in Flanders

Kimchi House makes one thing: napa cabbage kimchi, to a family recipe carried from Korea, made by hand in Roeselare, West Flanders, from cabbage grown a short drive away.

Why here

Kimchi is a vegetable ferment, and a ferment is only as good as the vegetable it starts from and the time it takes to reach you. Most kimchi sold in Europe is packed in Korea and spends five to nine weeks at sea, fermenting in the container the whole way. It lands tired. We wanted the other version of the story: cabbage from local growers that reaches us in days, a seven-day ferment, and a tub that is driven out the same week it is packed.

One recipe

The recipe is the family's. Whole napa leaves, halved down the core so they stay joined at the root; a slow salt; chilli, garlic and ginger worked into every layer by hand, because a machine bruises the leaf; seven days sealed. It is the classic baechu-kimchi, not a variation — and we make it in a standard version and a vegan one, where apple, pear and kohlrabi do the work of fish sauce.

Small batch, by choice

We make one batch a week. That is not a limitation we are working around; it is what keeps every tub the same. A weekly batch means every delivery is a week old, every customer gets the same ferment, and nothing sits in a warehouse waiting for an order. It also means seven days' notice — here is how ordering works.

Raw, live, unpasteurised

We never pasteurise and add no preservatives. The lactic cultures that did the fermenting are still alive in the tub, which is why it keeps sharpening in your fridge and why we ask every customer to keep it cold. It is the whole point of the product, and we would rather explain it than cook it out.

Who we make it for

Restaurants and caterers, supermarkets and delis, distributors who carry it further. Belgium first, then the Benelux and the neighbours by road. If you sell food to people who care where it comes from, that is who this is for.

Where

Roeselare, West Flanders, Belgium. Kimchihouse · BE 0553.958.981 · info@kimchihouse.be