This Week's Batches

깍두기 kkakdugi (cubed radish)

b. May 27, 2025

​

She is made with red radishes, and does not have the typical 깍두기 kkakdugi flavor, but really a bold burst of yummm. 깍두기 Kkakdugis are pretty much next to baechu kimchi as you'll find they're often brought out to the whole spread on the table. In a lot of restaurants in Seoul, you can pull her out of a box and make your own little 반찬 banchan plate to bring to your eating place.

I was sitting in the pokey grass in our big back yard, thinking, "what is your name?" And in front of me was that little box, my first own little box that I could grow some seeds in. You can find some soon-to-be daepa, now little pa (pa means green onion and so 대파 daepa is a fat green onion, also known as Korean leeks and they're used in stocks, stir-fries and marinades); 적겨자 jeok gyeo ja (red mustards), 냉이 naeng-i (sheperd's purse), who I don't really know, but apparently she's good in soups, can be served as a cold side dish and can make a real yummy savory pancake (jeon).

Jung-a is trying her hand at growing. It's not something she grew up learning, and being in a place where so many people have their own little boxes, it's a bit intimidating but also feels like a good place to learn. And so she is taking it slow, taking it as another place to grow in connection with the land here, and start from soil to seed to sprout to bigger veggie beings to being pulled out or picked and then eaten to being pulled back more to new sprouts to bolting to turning yellow to going back to the ground to growing back (if that's what they do).

This kkakdugi is made up of little boxes herself; they're supposed to be cubes. Since Jung-a didn't want to waste the sides that she cut off, she mixed them in too. Maybe they're more like little boxes and funny moons.