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Attempts were made to define the characteristics of microbial community as an indicator of Kimchi fermentation. Determination of communities was carried out by simple Gram-stain, followed by direct microcopic counts. In room-temperature (15℃) fermentation, microbial succession was occurred in the order of communities of Gram-positive bacteria, yeasts and Gram-negative bacteria. It was characteristic that Gram-positive bacterial community was developed during the production of lactic acid, yeasts community was developed to cause rancidity, and Gram-negative bacterial community was relevant to maceration (or softening) as well as rancidity. The fluctuation of apparent Gram-negative reaction group might be used as a criterion of death or aging of Gram-positive bacterial populations. In low-temperature fermentation (5℃), however, it was found that yeasts and Gram-negative bacterial communities did not developed but only Grampositive bacterial community did. It follows from these results mentioned above that maturity of Kimchi depends on the development of Gram-positive bacterial community. Thus, the size and occurrence of microbial community are avaiable for an indicator of Kimchi fermentation, and also determination of community could be a useful method to predict the maturity.
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