New Batch Of Kimchee

The yummy gallon I made over 4.5 years ago is down to a few cups in a small jar in the fridge, so yesterday I began a new batch. Here you see the jar yesterday afternoon packed tightly with layers of chopped daikon root and leaves, yellow onions, and  peeled green papayas, topped with pickling salt and sea salt, with filtered water poured over slowly to create a strong brine solution. I will let it sit until this afternoon to draw moisture out of the raw veggies, then drain the brine off. I will then make up a seasoning slurry of garlic powder, roasted sesame oil, hot peppers, crushed dried salted greenbacks I netted at Picnic Island Beach, some brown sugar to feed the lactic acid producing bacteria, plus some of that old batch to inoculate the slurry with those essential bacteria responsible for the vital fermentation that transforms and preserves the veggies. If I have some shrimp paste I will add that too. This gets poured over the brined veggies, then the jar gets sealed lightly to age in the fridge. I will take my first taste in mid August when I turn 59. But it won't really be "done" until it is at least a year old. There is nothing like stinky old home made kimchee!