Jennifer Naylor, affectionately known as Mama Bird to those who frequent her Sussex Farm stall at area farmers’ markets, serves up a wide variety of Korean kimchi. It changes with the season, from cabbage or cucumber to apple or radish (to name just a few), and Naylor swears by what she grows on her farm: local, fresh, and seasonal ingredients. When asked about the other secrets to her delicious success (check out the long line outside her stall if you doubt us), she says she makes her kimchi from an “authentic Korean recipe” that she learned from her mother.
The real secret, though, is “knowing the vegetable you are working with—the water content, taste, texture, etc.” And then there are the Korean chili peppers. “I grow my own to supplement, but the bulk of [the peppers] come from Korea, where my aunt has an organic farm,” Naylor says. “She sends them to my mom, hand-harvested, sundried, and milled the old-fashioned way. I’ve yet to find the same quality here in the U.S.”