Probiotic food is all the rage at the moment. In food and health magazines, blogs and newspapers, everywhere you turn there are articles singing the praises of tempeh, or extolling the benefit of kombucha in keeping our digestive systems healthy. Television commercials advertise the miraculous power of yogurt whose live cultures keep us all regular. Even sauerkraut and kimchi have been enlisted to manage the balance of bio functions in our gastrointestinal tracts. So are there probiotic foods in Chinese cooking?
As it turns out there are plenty of them and the Chinese have known about these beneficial effect for millenniums. Probiotic foods are products of natural processes that result from beneficial yeast and bacteria breaking down our foods. These organisms are believed to be valuable in human digestive systems. I recently chatted with my friend Peter D’Aquino, an acupuncturist and Asian herbal medicine specialist, about the Chinese philosophy of food therapy. Something Peter said piqued my interest. He said, “The Chinese rarely if ever consume foods that have not been cooked or naturally processed.” It was something I never paid much attention to but it’s true, I did not grow up eating lots of salad or raw foods. Peter went on to illustrate how soy fermentation, meat curing and vegetable pickling really are just a few ways of naturally preprocessing foods before consuming them. He likened the pickling jar to our stomachs and the pickling process to the beginning of the digestive process. What a revelation that was.
Pickling is one of the most common and practical ways of making probiotic foods at home. Like the kimchi-loving Koreans, some Chinese families in Asia still make a variety of pickles at home. One type of pickle is made by a process of fermentation that is similar to Korean kimchi or European sauerkraut. Vegetables are submerged in brine and allowed to ferment for a period of time. Known as lacto-fermentation, the process creates acid and lowers the pH level making it possible to store the pickles for an extended period of time.
A special Chinese pickling jar is available for this purpose and I bought one last year to start making pickles. The traditional jar is made from glazed earthenware and has a trough at the top around the opening. (There are modern versions of these jars in clear glass available in the U.S.) The cover sits in the trough, which is filled with water during fermentation. Gases produced by the fermentation escape from the jar and make a gurgling sound as they pass through the water. Because the water does not allow outside air to return to the jar, this acts as an ingenious way of reducing the possibility of contamination during fermentation.
All kinds of vegetables are regularly used for pickling in this way. Napa cabbage is common in the North (just like kimchi in Korea), and in the South regular cabbage is used along with many different root vegetables. For this post I am including a Sichuan version of pickles that include cabbage, daikon radish, green radish, carrots and chilies. Green radish is often available in Chinatown, but it can be omitted or substituted with other root vegetables. Kohlrabi is excellent for this recipe and so is turnip. So just get enough vegetables to fill the jar.
Absent the Chinese pickling jar, a large plastic container with lid works just as well. The only difference is that the lid has to be opened slightly every day to allow the pickle gas to escape. If the gas is bled properly the result should be the same. After a seven to ten-day period of fermentation the pickles can be removed from the jar, transferred to a clean container with tight lid, and stored in the refrigerator. The pickles will last a few months stored in this manner.
Pickling at home is a dying art in modern Chinese family, but it doesn’t have to be. It is a very simple method and can produce some of the most delicious and healthiest probiotic foods. I make them at home and I encourage you to take a serious look at making them.
Sichuan Fermented Pickles (四川泡菜)
Ingredients
- 1 pound cabbage cut into large pieces of about 2-inch squares
- 8 ounces daikon radish cut into strips of about ½-inch thick
- 8 ounces green radish cut into strips of about ½-inch thick
- 8 ounces carrots cut into strips of about ½-inch thick
- 3 ounces ginger cut into ¼-inch thick slices
- 2 red longhorn chili peppers
- 2 green longhorn chili peppers
Pickling Spice
- 1 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns
- 6 star anise
- 10 dried red chilies
- 4 bay leaves
Pickling Brine
- 1 cup white rice wine
- ¼ cup salt
- 2 quarts water boiled and cooled to room temperature
Instructions
- Thoroughly clean a one-gallon Chinese pickle jar. To sterilize the pickle jar pour hot boiling water into the jar, swirl the hot water around then discard.
- Combine the brine ingredients together and mix well, then add all the spice ingredients to the brine.
- Put all the vegetables inside of the jar pushing them down tightly.
- Pour the brine and spice mixture into the jar and make sure that the brine completely covers all the vegetables.
- Pour water in the trough of the pickling jar to about half full. Cover the jar and let stand in a cool location of the kitchen for seven to ten days. The longer the vegetables are fermented the sourer they become.
- Beginning on the seventh day, periodically remove the cover and sample the vegetables. When the sourness of the vegetables is to your liking then remove them from the jar and store refrigerated in a clean container with lid.
- Cut the vegetables into small pieces of about ¼-inch thick before serving.
First. . Thank you for so generously sharing your time, knowledge, and recipes. And, for creating this very practical and accessible site!
Is there a Chinese (in English) equivalent to the “Larousse Gastronomique”?
Thank you for your kind words about Red Cook. The closest I can think of as classic Chinese gastronomic work would be Yuan Mei’s “Suiyuan Shidan.” (隨園食單) Loosely translated the title means “Culinary Record of Suiyuan.” The work was written at the height of the Qing Dynasty in 1792 by a retired Qing era poet and gourmet Yuan Mei. Suiyuan is the name of the Yuan family compound. The book contains detail information about food preparation, processing and preservation as well as more than 300 recipes. I am not aware of a complete translation of the work. However there are pieces of translation on sections of the book on the Internet.
In 1987 we arrived in the northern Chinese town of Changchun at night. It was October, the harvest season for napa cabbage, and on every street we saw trucks filled with cabbages on their way to be turned into pickled cabbage. There were also big piles of cabbages under the street lights on many corners and cabbages on some of the balconies of apartment buildings.
Thank you for an excellent post.
Yes, napa cabbage is a major crop in Northern China. The same pickling technique can be used for pickling napa cabbage, just like kimchi in Korea. I’m glad you enjoy the post.
thank you for sharing your knowledge of pickling. i have two questions. is there a more common name for green radish? and where can i buy an earthenware jar.
Hi Anthony,
I am not familiar with other names for green radish. It is only one of many possible ingredients for pickling. You can use kohlrabi or turnip as well. Enjoy the recipe.
Kian
I just bought a 5liter fermenting pot in beautiful Polish pottery from Amazon. I am ready to buy a second one now. These Polish pots are the water seal models like the Chinese pots, but I was not able to find a sturdy Chinese pot. I am very happy with my Polish pots but I am making Chinese pickled vegetable recipes.
Congratulations on your new purchase! There is no reason why you cannot make the same Chinese pickles in this Polish pot. The science and technique behind making these pickles are the same. So enjoy making the pickles. Chinese or otherwise.
Thanks for the recipe! What kind of “white rice wine” do you use? What are alternatives if I can’t find that type of rice wine?
Hi M Gao,
Thanks for visiting Red Cook. I’m glad you are interested in making this recipe. You can substitute “white rice wine” with vodka. But dilute the vodka with equal amount of water before using in the recipe. Have fun cooking!
Kian
Thanks for the vodka tip. But what style of rice wine do you recommend…shaoxing, mirin, baijiu, mijiu, saki? And within that style, any specific brands you’d suggest? Some common brands of shaoxing sold in the U.S. are horrible.
For the kitchen I would use “cooking” wine found in grocery stores. They usually have less alcohol content compared to the regular Chinese wine found in liquor stores. The “white rice wine” is a cooking wine you can find in Chinese grocery stores. It is a diluted and less expensive version of “baijiu.” Another “baijiu” for cooking is known as “san cheng chew” and commonly used by Southern Chinese chefs. Any of the “baijiu” cooking wine would work well with this recipe. Shaoxing is a version of “yellow rice wine,” which does not work well here.
Just for your information… Chinese wine is a misnomer. They are really distilled spirit. Most of them have alcohol content closer to vodka, although “yellow wine” usually has lower alcohol content. You’re also right that there are very few good quality Chinese wine available in the U.S. I can’t seem to find the artisan brands here. The “cooking” wine available in grocery stores are not meant for direct consumption so don’t even try to drink them.
What a lovely selection of pickled foods and nice information regarding the process! Have a great week. J+C
I’m very excited to try this recipe. I am also a pottery instructor and potter. One of my students from China requested that I demonstrate a traditional pickle pot. I don’t have a photo yet but did fairly well for my first attempt and plan to make more. I would appreciate any info you may have on the pickle pots that you may know, type of clay, glaze, dimensions. Thanks!
Thank you for your comment. It is so exciting that you are interested in the pickle pot. I am not a potter so I have to admit that I do not know how and what material they are made of. As a layman I believe this particular one is made of clay then glazed completely except for the cover, which is only glazed on the outside and on the top. However, I do know that there are glass and porcelain versions of the same jars available. Google “Chinese pickle crock” and see the result.
Thanks for the reply!. I will post of the result of the pickle pot I made soon. I’m happy with the result of this first one but will make some more soon with a minor adjustment to the opening. Otherwise I just have to put it to Good use. I’m interested if there are any there other recipes of different provences available
The way I read the recipe, you combine the pickling mixture after the water has cooled. Is that the case? I was just concerned that the alcohol in the rice wine might inhibit the fermentation process. Was this the case, or was I supposed to boil the entire pickling mixture together? Also, I’ve made it before and it turned out great. I was looking for this recipe forever before I tried yours.
Hi Ryan! Thank you for visiting Red Cook. I boil the water separately and cooled it down before mixing the brine and spices. So no, I do not boil off the alcohol. I’ve not had any problem with fermentation even with the alcohol in the mixture. Enjoy the recipe!
I have an american crock with no lid, for fermented dill pickles I put a small plate and rock on top and cover with muslin cloth can I use this method for the cabbage here as well?
Hi Norma… yes, you should be able to use your method for this recipe. I would make sure to release the fermentation gas every so often though. The key is to make sure the container is very clean when starting the fermentation. Also ensure all vegetables are fully submerged in the liquid.