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Vegetables from Chaoshan, Guangdong

Chaoshan xian cai / kiam-chai (Teochew salted mustard)咸菜

Whole heads of large-leaf mustard (da cai) are sun-wilted for a day, salted at about one part salt to ten of mustard, and packed into a jar under stones so they stay in their brine. The sealed jar stands in the sun for about ten days. A sour form uses less salt and cooled rice water.

A short entry: the sources we found record only what is said here about Chaoshan xian cai / kiam-chai itself.

DocumentedVegetables11 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceHousehold method by ratio (10 parts mustard to 1 part salt); no fixed batch size.
Large-leaf mustard (da cai), whole heads10 parts[zhwiki]
Salt1 part[zhwiki]

Total time across the recorded steps: 11 days

Start
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What changes: Whole mustard heads are washed and wilted in the sun

Step 1 of 3
Wash and sun-dry whole mustard heads
Time
24 h
Reported
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Output: wilted heads.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Whole heads of large-leaf mustard (da cai) are sun-wilted for a day, salted at about one part salt to ten of mustard, and packed into a jar under stones so they stay in their brine. The sealed jar stands in the sun for about ten days. A sour form uses less salt and cooled rice water. Made in 3 steps over 11 days. The longest step, stand the sealed jar in the sun, takes 10 days (Chinese Wikipedia 2026). Salt is 9 % (Chinese Wikipedia 2026).

Key numbers
Main step10 daysReported[zhwiki]Stand the sealed jar in the sun
Salt9 %Reported[zhwiki]Salt, pack into a jar and weight with stones

What makes this one different

Unlike Hakka suan cai, which is trodden and sealed in a jar, the sealed jar of Chaoshan xian cai is set out in the sun while it ferments.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Suan xian cai (酸咸菜, sour salted mustard)Less salt, the mustard is not sun-dried and the leaves are kept on; after 2–3 days sealed with salt, cooled rice water is added and it is resealed for 15 days. It keeps only 4–5 days, or about half a month under brine, and smells off when old.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

The Jiaqing-era Chenghai county gazetteer notes mustard (da cai) sown after the autumn harvest and salted.

  1. [zhwiki] Chinese Wikipedia, 咸菜 (潮汕), method, sour form and gazetteer citation, read 2026-10-23wiki
  2. [s2] FAO Agricultural Services Bulletin 134 (1998), 6.2.9: sayur asin 'also known as kiam chai in Thailand and kiam chaye in Malaysia'gov