Chi Kitchen
The Pawtucket-based kimchi producer launches two new fermented Asian products , sesame slaw and kimchi pickles . By Jamie Coelho
Pawtucket-based Chi Kitchen has created two new jarred products this season that just might help boost immunity . Best known for handcrafted fermented kimchi ( available in original and vegan versions ), the local food producer now offers sesame slaw and kimchi pickles .
Chi Kitchen was founded by self-proclaimed CHI-EO Minnie Luong , who runs the business with her husband , Tim Greenwald . Her family originally came to New England as refugees and she was raised on food grown in a garden and kimchi made by her father . She hopes to share these healthy Asian foods in more local retail markets and ship them nationwide from their newly revamped website .
“ The products are all loaded with billions of probiotics in each serving . They also contain ginger , garlic and onions , which are all really good immune-boosting ingredients , plus they are low in sugar and fat , and high in fiber ,” says Luong . She adds that in South Korea , a country with a high life expectancy , people typically consume about forty pounds — about two tablespoons a day — of kimchi annually . “ Probiotics help support your gut health and some experts say your immune system is based on your gut health ,” she says .
Kimchi translates to the words “ salted vegetable .” The salt helps to inhibit the bad bacteria that you don ’ t want , which helps the good bacteria — the Lactobacillus already present on the vegetables — to grow . “ Fermentation is basically a competition between those two bacteria : the ones you don ’ t want and the ones that you do want ,” Luong says .
In five years , Chi Kitchen has gone from hawking single jars at local farmers markets to selling in 100 stores around New England . In 2019 , the company moved into a larger , 2,000-square-foot production space in Pawtucket ’ s Lorraine Mills on Mineral Spring Avenue . The couple rents their previous kitchen space to Ming ’ s Asian Street Food , which serves Asian fusion from a food truck and incorporates Chi Kitchen kimchi into a fried chicken sandwich .
Minnie Luong graduated from the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program in 2018 , and the education helped her scale up their business , enabling her husband to join full-time in July of 2019 . They had a new large mixing table fabricated by a designer at the Steel Yard in Providence to make it easier to mix fifty-five-gallon batches at a time , which are then stored for fermentation in plastic drums . It only takes about fortyeight hours for the fermentation to set up , then they move the product to cold storage before packing it in jars for retail sales . The jarred products can last for many months when stored in the refrigerator .
Luong and Greenwald say they ’ re excited to add the sesame slaw and kimchi pickles to their brand . They recommend saving the brine from the kimchi pickles and mixing it with olive oil for a spicy salad dressing or marinade or using it as a cocktail mixer . The sesame slaw can also be added to burgers , hot dogs and sandwiches or as a side for fish and chips . “ The new products embody our brand in terms of being crazy delicious Asian flavors and they are all really good for you ,” Luong says . “ These are the future of Chi Kitchen .” chikitchen . com
Tim Greenwald and Minnie Luong of Chi Kitchen with their two children .
Probiotic Boosters
● Eat two tablespoons of kimchi first thing in the morning with breakfast eggs to aid in digestion .
● Top a sandwich , burger , hot dog or pulled pork tacos with kimchi or sesame slaw to add an Asian twist to any meal .
● Add the products to a rice or noodle bowl or top avocado toast with a touch of kimchi .
PHOTOGRAPH ( THIS PAGE ) COURTESY OF CHI KITCHEN / PHOTOS BY MARIANNE LEE . ( OPPOSITE PAGE ) COURTESY OF OCEAN STATE SHIELDS / PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPH BY HILLARY JOYCE .
16 RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY l JANUARY 2021