I fell down a youtube rabbit hole of people making homemade kimchi, but I was surprised to find none of the ingredients or techniques I associate with fermented foods / fermentation in general. At first I thought it was the salt added to the cabbage that made a brine, but I realized it was to reduce the water content of the cabbage, with the salt washed away thoroughly. Then I assumed it was fermented like sauerkraut, until I found out those are two different species of cabbage. I also noticed there wasn’t any added microbes or enzymes like when making wine or cheese, so what causes the reaction?
In: Biology
> two different species of cabbage
How would this affect what type of bacteria/microbe ferments the vegetable?
At every moment, we are surrounded by a huge number of bacteria. Some of that bacteria (such as [levilactobacillus brevis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactobacillus_brevis)) will cause vegetables to ferment if it’s the main bacteria left. And wouldn’t you know it, this specific bacteria is mentioned as a microbe of both sauerkraut and kimchi.
Edit: the wiki page has a section about [kimchi microorganisms](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimchi#Microorganisms_in_kimchi) that lists out all of the common ones, while the sauerkraut wiki is listed on a [separate list](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactic_acid_fermentation#Applications). The main commonality is that certain ‘everywhere bacteria’s grow in brine better (which starts the fermentation and increases acidity) and eventually acidic brine better (which keeps the fermentation going).
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