Making geotjeori in Korea, from buying the right packs to a small batch

Geotjeori is kimchi that skips fermentation.
You salt the cabbage, season it right away and eat it fresh.
Recipes for it are easy to find.
What they rarely cover is shopping for it in Korea, where the salt, chili flakes and fish sauce each come in look-alike versions with Korean labels.

This guide is for people cooking in a Korean kitchen.
It covers which pack to pick for each ingredient, how much to buy for a small household, and one small-batch recipe.
It also covers when a kit is simply the better buy.

Salted napa cabbage being tossed with red chili seasoning in a steel bowl.

Should you make it or buy it ready-made?

Make it if you already cook Korean food, or will use the chili flakes and fish sauce again.
Buy a kit or ready-made geotjeori if this is a one-off, or if your studio fridge can't spare room for a bottle of fish sauce.

The decision mostly comes down to leftovers.
Our recipe uses 2 tablespoons of chili flakes and about a tablespoon of fish sauce, so even a 200 g pack of chili flakes covers many batches.

As an example, Kurly sells a 210 g albaechu geotjeori kit (baby napa cabbage, chives and a separate sauce you pour on and toss) for ₩4,900, as listed on 2026-10-16. It also lists ready-made geotjeori in 500 g packs.

Reading the shelf: what to pick, and what to leave

The table gives each item's Korean name, romanized, with the size to buy and the lookalike to leave on the shelf.
Point a camera translation app at a pack if you need to read the Korean.

The cabbage weight and the 200 g pack come from online grocery listings checked on 2026-10-16.

A halved baby napa cabbage with a tightly packed yellow center.

Salt: coarse for sprinkling, fine only in a brine

Coarse sea salt (cheonillyeom, often called gulgeun sogeum) is the salt recommended for salting vegetables and making kimchi.
Kkotsogeum is cheonillyeom that has been dissolved, cleaned and recrystallized into whiter, finer grains.
Its everyday use is seasoning soups, stews and namul.

Kkotsogeum can still salt cabbage if you dissolve it first.
One Korean recipe soaks 350 g of albaegi cabbage for 5 to 10 minutes in a brine of 3 spoonfuls of kkotsogeum and 200 ml of lukewarm water.
If you sprinkle fine salt instead of coarse, use less than a coarse-salt recipe calls for.

Chili flakes: go coarse

Geotjeori recipes call for coarse chili flakes (gulgeun gochugaru).
Very fine powder (goun gochugaru) is sold for soups and stews, where it dissolves into the broth.
Some packs say taeyangcho, which means the chilies were dried in the sun.

To make it milder, use less chili and mix in plain (not smoked) paprika powder.
It keeps the red color with less heat, a swap also suggested for mild tteokbokki.

Fish sauce: anchovy or kkanari

Anchovy fish sauce (myeolchi aekjeot) is widely used in kimchi seasoning and has a rich, savory taste.
Kkanari (sand lance) sauce is cleaner, less fishy and slightly sweet at the finish.
Either works in geotjeori, and kkanari gives a lighter result.
Some recipes also add saeujeot (salted shrimp), but ours leaves it out.

One small batch, start to finish

Our recipe uses one albaechu of about 450–500 g, enough as a side dish for two or three people at one meal.
Spoon measures are level 15 ml tablespoons.

Ingredients

• 1 albaechu, about 450–500 g

• About 1.5 tablespoons coarse sea salt, plus a splash of water

• 2 tablespoons coarse gochugaru (or 1 tablespoon each of gochugaru and paprika powder for less heat)

• 1 to 1.5 tablespoons anchovy fish sauce

• 1 tablespoon plum syrup, or 1/2 tablespoon sugar

• 1/2 to 1 tablespoon minced garlic

• 3 thin scallions (jjokpa), cut into short lengths

• Sesame oil and toasted sesame seeds to finish

Recipes vary a lot in strength.
A Korean recipe for one albaegi head uses 1/2 cup of coarse chili flakes and 4 tablespoons of fish sauce, so scale ours up if you like it punchy.
Start with the smaller amount of fish sauce and taste as you go.

1. Salt until the pieces soften

Cut the cabbage into bite-size pieces.
Scatter the coarse salt over them in a bowl, sprinkle on a little water and toss.
Turn the pieces once partway through.

Go by taste, not the clock.
Recipes using coarse salt give anywhere from 40–60 minutes to 3–4 hours, and less salt means a longer wait.
Start checking after about 40 minutes.
It's ready when the pieces have softened and a rinsed stem tastes seasoned, not raw.

Bite-size napa cabbage pieces sprinkled with coarse salt in a steel bowl.

Rinse twice and drain well.

2. Mix the seasoning first

Stir together the chili flakes, fish sauce, plum syrup and garlic in a large bowl.
Leave the sesame oil out for now.

A spoonful of thick red seasoning made with chili flakes, fish sauce and garlic.

3. Toss lightly, then finish

Add the drained cabbage and scallions and toss gently with gloved hands so the pieces stay crisp.
Taste once more and adjust with a little fish sauce or sugar.
Finish with sesame oil and sesame seeds just before serving.

How long does it keep?

It's best on the day it's made.
Leftovers start to ferment like regular kimchi, turning softer and more sour.
Keep them in an airtight container in the fridge.
One recipe author says it usually stays fresh-tasting for three to four days, sometimes up to a week.
The kit and the ready-made pack on Kurly both say to eat them soon after they arrive.

Sour leftovers still work in fried rice, like any older kimchi.
If you want kimchi to keep on hand, buy regular fermented kimchi instead.

Pre-salted cabbage is a seasonal, bulk product

Pre-salted cabbage (jeorim baechu) is sold for kimjang, when people make a big batch of kimchi to last the winter.
Supermarket chains take pre-orders for it, opening as early as September.
It comes in boxes of 10 kg or 20 kg, far more than one small batch.
Dates change every year, so check each chain's app if you do want a box.

Where you'll see it when eating out

Kalguksu (knife-cut noodle soup) is commonly eaten with fresh kimchi such as geotjeori, and every shop makes its own.
For how side-dish refills work, see our guide to banchan in Korean restaurants.

A piece of geotjeori held up with chopsticks next to a bowl of kalguksu.

Geotjeori isn't limited to cabbage: the dictionary definition also covers lettuce and radish.
For a similar quick seasoning on cilantro, see quick-pickled cilantro.