Common ingredients include Chinese cabbage, radish, garlic, red pepper, spring onion, fermented shrimp or other seafood, ginger, salt, and sugar. There are variants, including kaktugi, based on radish and containing no cabbage, and oisobagi, stuffed cucumber kimchi. Kaetnip, or sesame leaf, kimchi features layers of sesame leaves marinated in soy sauce, peppers, garlic, green onions, and other spices.
Lactobacilli are heavily involved in the fermentation of kimchi, which results in a higher lactic acid content in the final product than in yoghurt.
Kimchi used to be pronounced in Korean as timchoy (Hanja: 沈菜), meaning "steeped/submerged vegetable". However, since the pronunciation's drastic change, kimchi is no longer associated with its original Hanja.
See also: Korean cuisine