The history of Napa cabbage kimchi reveals that it dates back to the mid-15th century, 300 years earlier than previously known. After Napa cabbage was introduced from China during the Goryeo Dynasty, kimchi began to be made as an everyday ingredient from early on./Courtesy of News1

The history of napa cabbage kimchi has been revealed to date back 300 years earlier than previously known, to the mid-15th century. It is believed that kimchi was made from an early date as an everyday ingredient after napa cabbage was introduced from China during the Goryeo Dynasty.

The World Institute of Kimchi (WiKim) announced on the 12th that a research team led by Chief Researcher Park Chae-rin confirmed that the recipe for "baekchae (napa cabbage) water kimchi" recorded in the cooking book "Sangayorok," which dates back to around 1450, is the oldest record related to napa cabbage kimchi known to date. The results of this research were published in the recent issue 110 of the journal "Korean Culture" by the Kyujanggak Institute for Korean Studies at Seoul National University.

Until now, napa cabbage kimchi was believed to have originated from the kimchi recipe using "sung (napa cabbage)" recorded in "Zungbo Sanrim Gyeongje" written by Yu Jung-lim in 1766. This misconception arose from misinterpreting the baekchae mentioned in "Sangayorok" by the Joseon scholars Jeon Sun and Jeon Sun-hee as "muwi".

In 1715, Hong Man-seon, in his work "Sanrim Gyeongje," cited the Chinese agricultural book "Sineunji" and the Joseon agricultural book "Hanjeongrok," definitively stating that baekchae is "muwi." For this reason, the "chim baekchae" that appears in agricultural books before the 18th century was long misunderstood as "muwi kimchi." Such errors have been repeated in academia without verification, causing the origin of napa cabbage kimchi to be delayed.

Chief Researcher Park said, "There was a time when our native vegetable, muwi, was represented in Chinese characters as baekchae, but napa cabbage, which also came from China, is called baekchae, creating confusion," and added, "This research proved that baekchae is napa cabbage, not muwi, based on historical, culinary, and botanical evidence."

Researcher Park further noted, "This study demonstrated that napa cabbage has been present on the Korean Peninsula as a precious ingredient since the late Goryeo period, and that the methods for making kimchi using it were already widely spread."

In 1715, Hong Man-seon cites the Chinese agricultural text Xin Yinzhi and the Joseon agricultural text Hanjeongnok in 'Sanrim Gyeongje' and records 'baekchae' as 'meohwi (meowwi)'./Courtesy of World Institute of Kimchi (WiKim)

References

Korean Culture (2025), DOI: https://doi.org/10.22943/han.2025..110.006

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