Preserving flavors

You could write a book about pickled vegetables in China, but here are a few rudimentary lessons from Pauline D. Loh.

Asians have always treasured food. All vegetables, all meats are carefully preserved after harvests to last the year round. In China, even the humblest vegetables are carefully salted and pickled if there are excesses that cannot be eaten or sold immediately, and from these evolved a culinary tradition that has more than rewarded these thrifty habits with enrichment of the dinner table. It is a colorful platter of preserved vegetables. From the north, south, east and western provinces, different regions had their own ways of preserving mustard greens, radishes, turnips, garlic chives and cabbages.

Let's go through the more common and widely available preserved vegetables from China and look through their origins, history and culinary uses.