How To Pick The Best Store-Bought Kimchi (And How To Improve It)

In the grand sweep of the history of kimchi, this spicy Korean dish has generally been considered more of a homemade food, rather than one you can easily find at the grocery store. Nowadays, however, it's more widely available than ever. For those who don't have the patience to wait out a fermentation cycle. Ji Hye Kim, chef and owner of Miss Kim in Ann Arbor, Michigan, tells us there's no reason to feel bad about purchasing ready-made kimchi (especially if it's from a Korean grocery store; generally speaking; it's been suggested that kimchi from Korean groceries is more peppery and less sweet than products sourced elsewhere). Regardless of where you pick up premade store-bought kimchi, Kim says that checking for age and freshness is critical: "Not too salty and not too old."

Let's say you have some less-than-exceptional kimchi, and you want to upgrade it — well, Kim has a hack for that. The secret ingredient is the nutty, toasty sesame oil that you likely already have in your pantry, applied with a light hand just before serving. As Kim explains it, "Sesame oil smells so good, and it rounds out the kimchi flavor and adds complexity [to the dish] with so little effort." If you want to take Kim's tip for improving your kimchi, choose Korean sesame oil; unlike regular sesame oil, made from untoasted seeds, sesame seeds in Korean oil are toasted for an extra pop of flavor.

Whether you're topping a burger with kimchi for a tangy, flavorful punch, using it to jazz up a rice bowl like the ones Ji Hye Kim serves at her Korean restaurant, or simply eating it by the forkful, the sour, salty, umami flavor of this dish is hard to replicate. That's because homemade kimchi takes hours of prep and cooking, followed by a minimum of one to two days of fermentation. But picking the right kind of store-bough kimchi can really make or break your culinary experience.

For her money, Kim highly recommends the brand Jongga for store-bought kimchi — Jongga itself company touts that its product contains no artificial additives or preservatives. "[Its] kimchi is readily available at most Korean grocery stores, offers variety, and tastes right," says Kim, noting the qualities that matter to discerning foodies of all stripes. Kim also shouts out the online retailer Kim'C Market, which "offers smaller batch artisanal kimchi in jars."