Kimchi cabbage is a cool-season plant, but it is grown year-round to meet the high demand for kimchi production. Understanding the plant’s seasonal characteristics is crucial for ensuring consistent quality. However, kimchi cabbages are grown in diverse locations with varied growing conditions and soil types, which creates an obstacle for producing uniform kimchi. To address this issue, we conducted research on sensorial-related metabolites and glucosinolates to characterize kimchi cabbages from four seasons in the Republic of Korea. Our findings revealed that fall and winter-grown kimchi cabbages had higher levels of compatible solutes (proline and sucrose) compared to those from spring and summer. These differences are likely due to low temperatures after the heading stage and freezing soil that induces drought stress. Additionally, extensive pest damage in the spring and summer increased the bitterness of kimchi cabbage, which may be attributed to neoglucobrassicin. These kimchi cabbage characteristics were confirmed with five cultivars grown in Naju, Jeollanam Province, for the spring and fall seasons. Our study suggests that kimchi cabbages grown in spring and summer have similar metabolite levels and increasing temperature regimes, a trend also found in fall/winter-grown kimchi cabbages. This study is the first attempt to characterize kimchi cabbage attributes grown during four different seasons.

泡菜卷心菜是冷季植物，但为了满足泡菜生产的高需求，它全年种植。了解植物的季节特征对于确保稳定的质量至关重要。然而，泡菜卷心菜的种植地点不同，生长条件和土壤类型也各不相同，这给生产统一的泡菜造成了障碍。为了解决这个问题，我们对感官相关的代谢物和芥子油苷进行了研究，以表征韩国四个季节泡菜的特征。我们的研究结果表明，与春季和夏季种植的泡菜相比，秋季和冬季种植的泡菜具有更高水平的相容性溶质（脯氨酸和蔗糖）。这些差异可能是由于抽穗期后的低温和导致干旱胁迫的土壤冻结造成的。此外，春季和夏季的广泛虫害增加了泡菜白菜的苦味，这可能归因于新葡萄糖酸芸苔素。这些泡菜白菜的特性已在全罗南道罗州春季和秋季种植的五个品种中得到证实。我们的研究表明，春季和夏季种植的泡菜卷心菜具有相似的代谢水平和升高的温度状况，秋季/冬季种植的泡菜卷心菜也存在这种趋势。这项研究是首次尝试表征四个不同季节种植的泡菜卷心菜的特性。我们的研究表明，春季和夏季种植的泡菜卷心菜具有相似的代谢水平和升高的温度状况，秋季/冬季种植的泡菜卷心菜也存在这种趋势。这项研究是首次尝试表征四个不同季节种植的泡菜卷心菜的特性。我们的研究表明，春季和夏季种植的泡菜卷心菜具有相似的代谢水平和升高的温度状况，秋季/冬季种植的泡菜卷心菜也存在这种趋势。这项研究是首次尝试表征四个不同季节种植的泡菜卷心菜的特性。