Once Upon a Time There Was a Jar of Kimchi
Did you know that kimchi makes a sound? I never noticed until one fine Summer day.
I had gone to the Korean grocery store in the morning and dropped everything at home before heading back out to run more errands.
My sister had asked me to get the big jar of kimchi and to leave it out of the fridge so it could ripen more. I thought ‘sure, no problem – I won’t even have to take up refrigerator space for it.’
So I bought her kimchi, size extra large as requested, tightened the lid before transport (I can’t have kimchi juice spilling out in my car. Nothing would ever get that smell out!), and left it in the garage.
While I was out, my hubby was home with our child and dog. A little while after I left our dog started growling and barking at the door to the garage. At first, Hubby thought she was barking at a passing car or person. But she kept barking, so, out of more annoyance than anything, he went to investigate.
That’s when he noticed a low but definitely distinct hissing sound. He got excited at the thought of a snake being in the house. (Yes, I know that’s weird. But he likes reptiles and takes pride in placing them safely back outside instead of killing them like many other people would do.)
So I get a text from my hubby saying that he thought we might have a snake in the house. He tells me that our dog is barking at the door to the garage and he could hear a loud intermittent hissing sound. And that he’s going to investigate it.
He followed the sound of the hissing to a large mysterious plastic bag in a corner of the garage. Yup, it was definitely hissing. Our dog was still going nuts and even whimpering by this point.
That’s when I got text number two, “Do you know what this plastic bag is in garage?”
Me: Oh yeah, that’s my sister’s giant jar of kimchi.
Hubby: Well, then the snake is either in there are it IS your kimchi.
It turns out that in the heat of the garage, the fermentation process of the kimchi kicked into high gear. On top of that, I had tightened the lid to the jar so it had been building up pressure. The fermentation gas had obviously found a way to sneak out of the lid and was making a hissing noise.
It was still hissing by the time I got home. I loosened the jar and all was well. No more hissing and the dog stopped barking. Although our garage was smellier for it.
Thank goodness he’s the one who was home and not me!
I probably would’ve called animal control! Can you imagine how embarrassing that would’ve been?
Words of Caution
I know realize why my Korean grocery store doesn’t screw the lid on top to any of their kimchi jars. It had long bothered me that they didn’t but now I get it. Don’t you hate having to learn things the hard way?
So the lesson here is to loosen the kimchi jar lid it you’re going to let it ferment outside of your refrigerator and to warn others in the house. Lest you want panic and possibly animal control called.
Has kimchi ever “hissed” at you or others in your house? Share in the comments!