Ozuké – The Best Organic Kimchi I’ve Ever Had

When I review organic food products, I do my best to make sure that they are available either online or at retail locations throughout much of the country, so readers can go buy them.

Sometimes, however, my excitement about a product is so strong that I have to make an exception.

Over the Thanksgiving holidays, not only was I fortunate to have eaten at Dr. Andrew Weil’s restaurant True Food Kitchen for the very first time, but I was also lucky enough to have discovered Ozuké kimchi by the Esoteric Food Company.

For the most part, sauerkraut, kimchi and other fermented foods is a very regional business.

So, wherever you go in the U.S., there tends to be a different local producer of these foods.

Why is this? I am not exactly sure but it probably has something to do with the size of these companies and their ability to scale a refrigerated product on a national level.

Over the last few years, I’ve been on a serious kimchi kick – for both its health benefits and taste – and have become pretty obsessed the stuff.

Yet, I have had tremendous difficulty finding an organic one that I thought was outstanding. Until I tasted Ozuké.

There were two reasons why I liked this brand so much.

One, the flavor. It had just the right amount of spice without the heat being overwhelming.

Two, the texture.  I don’t want it soggy and flat. I want kimchi to have a real crunch to it and this one had exactly that.

(This was my Thanksgiving meal – Organic quinoa, salad, and Ozuké’s organic kimchi. I haven’t eaten turkey in many years.)

Now that I am back in New York, I miss Ozuké’s organic kimchi greatly and am really hoping that Whole Foods in Manhattan will soon carry it.

Without a doubt, this was one of the best organic products I have had all year. It totally rocked!

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Ozuké kimchi by Esoteric Food Company can be found mostly in the Rocky Mountain region and is available at select stores in Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Utah, Wyoming, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, and South Dakota.

The ingredients include organic napa cabbage, organic yellow onion, organic green onion, organic shallot, organic ginger, organic garlic, chile powder, cayenne pepper, paprika and sea salt.