I always find it hard to walk past a big, lush bunch of crisp silverbeet at the market or greengrocer, only to look in the fridge a week later and find a saggy, droopy bunch of something that hardly resembles anything of its former bright and perky self.

Instead of letting my silverbeet go to waste, I use the stems in one of my favourite ferments, kimchi.

This recipe is based on 500g raw weight of silverbeet stems.

Trim the stems into 5cm pieces, pulling off any stringy bits as you go.

Sprinkle with 40g fine table salt and leave for 1 hour.

Rinse under cold running water and leave to air dry.

In a food processor, whiz 40g fresh ginger, 50g garlic cloves, 20g salted dried shrimps, 30g caster sugar, 2 tbs glutinous rice flour (from Asian food shops), 100g gochujang chilli paste (from Asian food shops) and 3 spring onions until a fine paste.

Place sliverbeet stems and a small grated daikon in a bowl. Massage paste into stems and radish, then pack into a sterilised glass jar.

Seal and leave to ferment for 3-5 days at room temperature.

Store and select
Choose bunches of silverbeet with firm, sturdy stems and dark-green leaves without dark patches. Wrap in a damp tea towel and store in the crisper drawer of your fridge to make them last longer.

Goes with
Currants, pine nuts, feta, ricotta, butter, preserved lemon, chilli

See here for Silvia Colloca’s mushroom and silverbeet pasta bake.