Here in Hawai'i, we think we know kim chee. Those familiar jars of Halms or Kohala kim chee are at home on our tables.

But in truth, our understanding of Korea's national food rates about a 4 on a scale of 160.

Meaning even the most savvy among us tend to be aware of only four types of the Korean fermented pickle (won bok, cucumber, daikon and turnip) among the more than 160 types documented in Korea.

Unless you're in the habit of visiting the kim chee bars at one of the Korean markets here — Palama Super Market and Queen's Super Market are best known — or have a Korean halmani (grandma) in the kitchen, you are probably innocent about the wide range of kim chee ingredients and flavors.

The term, rooted in Middle Chinese, means to soak or steep vegetables or greens. Originally, kim chee was just a salted vegetable, explained chef Chae Won Choe, who was born in Korea and raised in Hawai'i. After chilies were introduced to Korea in the 17th century, Koreans created a variation on the theme, seasoning the salted vegetables with sweet, hot peppers.

Now the dish is officially designated a National Treasure in South Korea. "Kim chee, we had breakfast, lunch and dinner — so many different kinds," said Mimi Mitsunaga, who grew up in Korea and for the past 13 years has masterminded an immense kim chee-making project for Iolani School's Family Fair.

Says Choe, "You can kim chee any kind of vegetable." Common in Korea are kim chees made with eggplant, mustard leaves, lettuces, carrots, gourds, watercress, leeks, chives, green onions, pumpkin, various roots and shoots, according to "The Kim Chee Cookbook," by Kim, Lee and Lee (Periplus, 1997), an excellent English-language guide to kim chee lore, history and recipes. And seafood, too: oysters, squid, shrimp, pollack, cutlass fish.

A more recent stereotype of kim chee is that it isn't good for you. And, indeed, the high sodium content is of concern; this can be somewhat mitigated by making your own kim chee, rinsing kim chee before eating, and savoring small portions.

But recent research indicates that fermented foods — cabbage kim chee and sauerkraut — have significant health advantages. Cruciferous vegetables, including cabbages, are high in cancer-fighting antioxidants (glucosinolates and flavonoids), fiber, vitamins C and K, calcium and minerals (iron, potassium).

In a 2002 study written up in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Finnish researchers found that fermenting cabbages produces isothiocyanates, which retard cancers in laboratory experiments. The same lactic acids that help preserve the fermented cabbage also promote intestinal health. Garlic, abundantly used in making kim chee, has antioxidant and other health effects as well, as does hot pepper powder. And cabbage kim chee is fat- and cholesterol-free.

Cabbage is the most common form of kim chee. In Korea, November is kimjang chol — kim chee making season. Choe recalls women squatting in impromptu markets lining the roads, exhibiting stacks of cabbage or bright red mounds of kochu karu, Korean red pepper powder. A familiar greeting between householders at this time is "How are you coming with your kimjang?" or "Have you finished kimjang yet?"

In the Korean villages, paechu (won bok) kim chee is prepared communally, in a tradition called pumasi, with literally the whole village harvesting, cleaning, trimming, chopping, brining, stuffing and packing the cabbages into enormous earthenware crocks sunk into the ground to keep the kim chee cold through the winter. In city apartments, residents work together to make kim chee, and have special small refrigerators for kim chee only.

Korean immigrants began making kim chee commercially here in the late 1930s.

Local Korean-Americans have endured stereotyping and teasing about their pungent favorite food.

Eighty-nine-year-old Julia Chung, known for her crisp cucumber kim chee, remembers being taunted by other children in the Waimanalo plantation village where she grew up.

But she had the last laugh: "Then they get curious, 'What's so good about it?' So they try it and they get hooked on it."

Chung's parents, like most first-generation Koreans, ate kim chee every day. But even for Korean children, it's a learning experience.

"At first, you cannot take it. Sometimes, they make it too hot, you can't eat it, you have to rinse it off. But then gradually you increase, two bites, three bites. Pretty soon, you become addicted," she said.