Vegan Kimchi — Glutamate Sources Ranked by mg/100g

No fish sauce. No compromise on umami. Here's the data.

Vegan glutamate sources ranked

Free L-glutamate mg/100g (approximate values from food composition data)

Fish sauce row shown for reference — it's not the best source.

Why vegan kimchi tastes as good as the original

Instructions

1. 

   1

   Salt the napa cabbage

   Cut napa cabbage into quarters, then 2-inch pieces (about 2 lbs total). Toss with 2 tablespoons coarse sea salt per pound of cabbage — that’s 2.5% salt by weight. Let sit 1–2 hours, tossing every 30 minutes. The cabbage will lose about 30% of its water weight. This dehydration is what creates the anaerobic environment lactic acid bacteria need.

   Chemist's note

   2.5% salt by weight is the sweet spot for vegan kimchi. No fish sauce brine to account for, so your salt calculation is cleaner. Use the Salt Calculator if you’re scaling up.

2. 

   2

   Make the kombu glutamate base

   Soak 1 strip of dried kombu (about 4 inches) in 1/4 cup warm water for 20 minutes. Remove the kombu and reserve both — the soaking water is now glutamate-rich dashi. Finely mince the rehydrated kombu or blend it into a paste. This is your umami foundation: 3,190 mg/100g free glutamate, which outperforms fish sauce on a gram-for-gram basis.

   Chemist's note

   The kombu soaking liquid doubles as your paste-thinning liquid. Don’t discard it.

3. 

   3

   Build the vegan paste

   In a bowl, combine: 3 tablespoons gochugaru (Korean red pepper flakes), 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 tablespoon white miso paste, 4 cloves garlic (minced), 1 inch fresh ginger (grated), 1 teaspoon sugar, the minced kombu, and 2–3 tablespoons kombu soaking liquid to loosen the paste. Optional: add 1 teaspoon fermented black bean paste for extra depth. Mix until uniform. The paste should be thick enough to coat cabbage leaves.

   Chemist's note

   Gochugaru is non-negotiable. Cayenne or regular chili flakes will not give you kimchi flavor — the smoky sweetness of gochugaru is the DNA of kimchi paste.

4. 

   4

   Rinse, drain, and stuff the cabbage

   Rinse the salted cabbage 3 times under cold water. Taste a piece — it should be pleasantly salty, not overwhelming. Drain thoroughly in a colander for 15 minutes. Add the drained cabbage to the paste along with 3 sliced scallions and optional matchstick daikon. Wear gloves and toss everything together until every piece of cabbage is coated in red paste.

   Chemist's note

   If it tastes too salty after rinsing, rinse again. You can add salt later. You cannot remove it.

5. 

   5

   Pack the jar and ferment

   Pack the kimchi tightly into a quart mason jar, pressing down firmly after each handful until liquid rises above the vegetables. Leave 1 inch of headspace — vegan kimchi produces significant CO2 in the first 48 hours. Loosely cap the jar (don’t seal tight) and leave at room temperature (65–75°F) for 3–5 days. Press the vegetables down once or twice daily.

   Chemist's note

   Place the jar on a plate. Vegan kimchi without fish sauce sometimes ferments faster because there’s no antibacterial effect from the salt-cured fish. It will bubble. The plate will catch the overflow.

6. 

   6

   Taste, seal, refrigerate

   Start tasting on day 2. It’s done when it’s tangy, effervescent, and the pH reads 4.0–4.5 (or it tastes like kimchi). Move to the fridge. The cold doesn’t stop fermentation — it slows it to a crawl. Your kimchi will continue developing for months. Week 1: bright and crunchy. Month 1: deeper, more complex. Month 3+: sour and funky, perfect for kimchi jjigae.

   Chemist's note

   All stages are food-safe below pH 4.5. The lactic acid environment is hostile to pathogens. That’s the whole point.

The science