Kimchi: Napa Cabbage Alternatives?

[marckb]

My wife and I are in the process of planning the food crops on our new homestead. My wife the farmer will be growing all heirloom vegetables, and i'll be going crazy with delight cooking it all.

Among other things, I'm looking forward to making my own kimchi, possibly even in a crock pot underground. However, we are unable to find any heirloom Napa cabbage seeds, so far.

Can anyone suggest any other varieties of cabbage that could be used? I refuse to give up on my Kimchi dream, and my wife won't budge on her all-heirloom dream.

Marc, the farmer's husband.

[toodie jane]

here is a source: http://www.botanicalinterests.com/sea...

[soypower]

lots of options:

cucumber kimchee
broccoli rabe kimchee
chinese chive kimchee
young radish (not sure what this is called in english, but in korean it's yeolmu) kimchee
ponytail radish (again, not sure the english name, but called chonggak in korean) kimchee

pretty much any sturdy leafy green or radish can be used to make kimchee...i would love to have the opportunity to experiment with different vegetables...

[hannaone]

I found a link to the Wong Bok, at least it doesn't say hybrid on the page.

http://www.evergreenseeds.com/napcabw...

[hannaone]

(Napa) Cabbage kimchi is the best known kimchi. I have seen kimchi that was made with standard (Savoy?) green cabbage, but didn't get a chance to try it and so I have no idea how it tastes.
You might look for these varieties, which are types of Napa (don't know if they are hybrid though) -
Minuet
Rubicon
Wong Bok
China Express

[Pei]

Does it have to be cabbage kimchi? My favorite kimchi is made with daikon. Koreans also make green onion kimchi, which is less exciting but still tasty.

[mochi mochi]

Michihili