Baby Napa Cabbage Geotjeori: Salting and Washing Order

Baby napa cabbage geotjeori can be salted before mixing or mixed with seasoning without salting. The salting method involves washing, salting, rinsing, and draining. Even when mixing it right away, draining the washed cabbage helps keep the seasoning from becoming watery.

The ingredient amounts below come from Agri-Food Olbaro’s napa cabbage geotjeori recipe, which does not show a publication date. (Verified figures from the napa cabbage geotjeori recipe with no publication date shown: napa cabbage 200g, thin green onions 10g, salt 9g, red pepper flakes 5g, minced garlic 6g, minced ginger 2g, fermented anchovies 5g, sugar 3g, ground sesame seeds 2g, sesame oil 4g. · Source: nics.go.kr · Checked 2026-10-08)

Comparing salted and unsalted napa cabbage geotjeori

Whether to salt the cabbage depends on the texture you want and the seasoning recipe you use. Salting it beforehand draws out some of its moisture. Mixing it right away skips this step.

Sempio has published a recipe that does not salt baby napa cabbage separately. It uses a store-bought geotjeori seasoning. Salting beforehand is therefore not a required step for geotjeori. The seasoning mixture needs to suit the method. Sempio’s baby napa cabbage geotjeori recipe.

Order of washing, salting, rinsing, and draining

When using the salting method, distinguish the initial wash from the rinse after salting. The initial wash removes soil and debris from the cabbage. Rinsing after salting also washes away salt and brine left on the surface.

Gwangju Kimchi Town’s recipe includes this instruction. Kimchi Town napa cabbage geotjeori.

Salt lightly, then wash under running water

For home cooking, the sequence is as follows.

1. Trim the base and any damaged parts.
2. Wash the cabbage, making sure to remove debris between the leaves.
3. Salt it according to the recipe you have chosen.
4. Rinse the salted cabbage with clean water.
5. Place it in a colander or sieve to drain.
6. Check how salty the cabbage remains, then season it.

The mix-right-away method skips salting in this sequence. There is also no need to rinse off salting salt. The raw cabbage still needs to be washed and drained.

How to judge salting time for napa cabbage geotjeori

Salting time alone does not reliably predict the cabbage’s condition. Changes in salt concentration also change how much moisture is drawn out. Leaves and thick stems do not soften in the same way.

A 2010 study by Hwang Eun-sun measured changes in moisture under different salting conditions. In the experiment, moisture content decreased as salt concentration and salting time increased. The results did not, however, establish a recommended salting time for baby napa cabbage geotjeori. Study on napa cabbage salting conditions.

• Interpret salting time alongside the amounts of salt and water in the same recipe.
• Check the thick stems as well as how much the leaves have softened.
• Do not apply the salting time for a whole-cabbage recipe directly to finely cut baby napa cabbage.
• Judge how much the cabbage has been salted partly by the saltiness remaining after rinsing.

How rinsing geotjeori cabbage affects seasoning

Adjust the seasoning’s saltiness based on cabbage that has been rinsed and drained. Brine on the surface also contributes to its saltiness immediately after salting. If you decide how much fish sauce to add based only on the cabbage before rinsing, it is hard to get the finished dish’s saltiness right.

Adding sugar does not remove salt. Even if the dish tastes sweeter, the salt in it remains. Adjusting saltiness and adjusting sweetness are separate matters.

The difference between wash water and water released by cabbage

The liquid in geotjeori does not come only from water left after washing. Moisture released from the cabbage also mixes into it. Liquid can therefore appear after mixing even if the cabbage was drained well.

This explanation applies the principle of moisture movement observed in salting research to cooking. Salt in the seasoning continues to affect the cabbage after they come into contact. Skipping the initial salting does not stop moisture from moving.

Seasoning ingredients and cabbage weight

When comparing seasoning amounts, consider both the cabbage’s weight and the salting step. Even cabbages described as one head can differ in actual weight. Agri-Food Olbaro provides a recipe using tender napa cabbage leaves. Agri-Food Olbaro napa cabbage geotjeori recipe.

This recipe calls for washing and draining the salted cabbage. The 9g of salt is therefore not all added when mixing. Neither glutinous rice paste nor wheat flour paste appears in the ingredient list. This is an example of geotjeori made without a paste.

When switching to another recipe, also check at which stage the cabbage was weighed. Its weight before salting may differ from its weight after draining. The same weight does not necessarily mean the same seasoning ratio will work.

Common mistakes

Saltiness can easily be thrown off when the salting method and seasoning mixture come from different recipes. In particular, distinguish salt used for salting from seasoning added when mixing. The points below apply both the cooking sequence and the principle of moisture movement.

• Assuming that because the cabbage was washed first, it does not need rinsing after salting.
• Adding the salty seasoning from a mix-right-away recipe unchanged to salted cabbage.
• Deciding that cabbage with a lot of water on it is bland and adding fish sauce first.
• Assuming that draining the cabbage means no liquid will appear later.
• Counting all the salt used for salting as salt remaining in the finished dish.

Some of the salt used for salting leaves with the discarded brine and rinse water. It is difficult to calculate the sodium in the finished dish accurately from the ingredient list alone. You would need to know how much salt remains after rinsing and how much additional seasoning is used.

Frequently asked questions

Must baby napa cabbage be salted?

No. Some recipes season it without salting it separately. The salting and mix-right-away methods also differ in their seasoning requirements.

I washed the cabbage before salting it. Do I need to rinse it again?

If the recipe includes rinsing, rinse it after salting. The initial wash and the rinse after salting serve different purposes. Do not skip the later step just because you washed it first.

Is there a set number of rinses?

The geotjeori recipes checked do not specify a common number of rinses. The amount of salt and the salting method also vary by recipe. Follow the rinsing instructions in the recipe you are using.

Do I have to squeeze out the water?

Draining methods vary by recipe. Kimchi Town instructs cooks to transfer the cabbage to a colander to drain. Agri-Food Olbaro includes a step for squeezing out water. That does not mean every geotjeori needs to be squeezed with the same force.

Why does the seasoning become watery even after I drain the cabbage?

Moisture can come out of the cabbage after seasoning. Liquid in the seasoning itself also contributes. The appearance of liquid does not, by itself, mean the cabbage was not drained enough after washing.

Will using less salt for salting make the finished dish less salty?

The amount of salt used for salting does not alone determine the finished dish’s saltiness. Salt remaining in the cabbage after rinsing also matters. You also need to account for saltiness added by fish sauce or salted fermented seafood.