Chinese Pickles and Preserves

[liuzhou]

4 minutes ago, Tropicalsenior said:

Thank you very much. This is much easier than what I have been doing. I'm going to have to go out and raid my Ginger patch.

 

Yes, there are recipes on that interweb thing which are ludicrously complicated. One recipe pushed by Goggle takes three days!

[Tropicalsenior]

14 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

 

Yes, there are recipes on that interweb thing which are ludicrously complicated. One recipe pushed by Goggle takes three days!

Mine wasn't that complicated but I'm certainly glad to know that there is an easier way. But that will have to be a project for tomorrow. Today I think I am going to be able to perfect my candied garlic. I hope that the third time is the charm.

[Tropicalsenior]

4 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

wonferful chicken dish

Let me know when the divorce comes through. I'd love to have that recipe.

[liuzhou]

And here is a dish using all three of the holy trinity.

 

Chickens' feet with pickled ginger, pickled chillies and pickled garlic.

 

Enjoy!

Edited July 27, 2021 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

A late addition to the dried tofu selection. This one is first stewed in 'spring-picked' tea, then dried.


 

[liuzhou]

Another short extract from a guide book relating to the local Miao ethnic minority cuisine. As before, the use of 'sour' is a mistranslation for 'pickled'. And the dried pepper' mentioned means 'chilli pepper'.
 

[Anna N]

3 hours ago, liuzhou said:

Another short extract from a guide book relating to the local Miao ethnic minority cuisine.

Just gotta love “purple perilla, etc. Thanks for sharing. 

[liuzhou]

9 minutes ago, Anna N said:

Just gotta love “purple perilla, etc. Thanks for sharing. 

 

I do love purple perilla (紫苏 -zǐ sū) . Very common vegetable round these parts.

 

More here.

 

[Anna N]

13 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

I do love purple perilla

It was actually the “etc” that amused me! As though I would automatically know what else needed to be added. 

[liuzhou]

1 minute ago, Anna N said:

It was actually the “etc” that amused me! As though I would automatically know what else needed to be added. 

 

Ah!

 

That sort of thing is perfectly normal in Chinese language recipes.

"Add the usual and cook until cooked."

 

"Add the correct amount of garlic."

 

"Serve with appropriate."

[liuzhou]

36. 咸蛋 (xián dàn) – Salted Eggs

 

Another very common practice in China is to preserve eggs. I have mentioned before, at some length, so-called century eggs (皮蛋 - pí dàn) in the China Food Myths topic, but that is not the only way they are done. So here, I’ll avoid repetition and just post these couple of pictures.

 

皮蛋 - pí dàn
 

皮蛋 - pí dàn served with pickled chiliesand garlic

咸蛋 (xián dàn) – salted eggs are just as common. Duck eggs are the most common, followed by quails eggs then chicken eggs.

 

There are at least three methods of producing these: brining them in a salt solution, or packing them in a salt and charcoal mixture, which is later washed off, or as I see around here more, just packing them in salt. They are left for around 3 to 4 weeks before being ready. Today most people buy them in supermarkets or markets. Although they are relatively easy to make at home, convenience takes over. Also, they are so cheap, why go to all the bother?

 

You have to be careful in Chinese stores when buying eggs. What look like ordinary fresh eggs are often anything but.

 

Fresh or preserved? It's salted.

 

 咸鸡蛋 (xián jī dàn)- salted chicken egg

 

 咸鸭蛋 (xián yā dàn) salted duck egg

 

咸鹌鹑蛋 (xián ān chún dàn) - salted quail eggs in supermarket

 

The salted duck eggs are also individually shrink wrapped and sold as snacks.

 

Shrink wrapped salted duck egg.

Edited July 29, 2021 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

Anything wet can be dried or so it seems round here. All sorts of things are dried. Vegetables, fruit, meat, flowers, fish.

Here are some.

 

Dried mixed vegetables with a couple of fruits thrown into the mix. I'll let you play the identification game.

 

Dried Lemon Slices

 

Dried Wild Onions

 

For some reason this is called 'Ignorant Old Woman Duck'

 

Edited April 6, 2023 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

37. 橄榄/橄欖 (gǎn lǎn) – Chinese Olives

Chinese Olives

 

The first thing to say about Chinese olives is that they aren’t olives at all. They are the fruit of Canarium album a tree native to S-E Asia, whereas true olives are the fruit of Olea europaea, a small tree native to Mediterranean Europe. In their untreated state, they do look similar, but that’s all. They have a strong, resinous flavour.

 

A common use is in the form of a paste known as 橄榄菜/ (gǎn lǎn cài) which means ‘olive vegetable’. The olives are mixed with green mustard leaf and cooked with soy sauce and salt, then bottled. The dark green paste is most popular in Cantonese speaking areas and especially in Hong Kong (the jar in the image below is labelled 香港橄榄菜/香港橄欖菜(xiāng gǎng gǎn lǎn cài), 香港 (xiāng gǎng) being the Mandarin for ‘Hong Kong’.

 

 

Chinese Olive Vegetable

 

The paste though, originated in 潮州 (cháo zhōu) city in eastern Guangdong province with its own distinct cuisine and language, so is a subset of Cantonese cuisine.

 

The paste is used in stir fries and with egg fried rice.

 

The olives are also preserved by being candied. These are everywhere as snacks. These below are 甘草橄榄/甘草橄欖 (gān cǎo gǎn lǎn), which means ‘licorice olives’, the olives are preserved with licorice, salt, sugar and more chemical preservatives and sweeteners that I can be bothered to list! Industrial food.

 

甘草橄榄 (Licorice Olives)

Talking of which, the Chinese olives are also used in the manufacture of printing inks, soaps and varnish. They are also used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), but everything is.

 

Low quality European olives are also available here, usually Spanish and bottled; sometimes canned. They are known as 油橄榄/油橄欖 (yóu gǎn lǎn), meaning ‘oil olive’, which further confuses the issue as the Chinese ones are also sometimes pressed for their oil.

 

 

Note: Where I've given two Chinese names, the first is the Simplified Chinese as used on the Chinese mainland, Malaysia and Singapore; second is the Traditional Chinese used in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan and among some of the Chinese diaspora. If I've only given one, that means they are the same.

Edited August 1, 2021 by liuzhou (log)

[Tropicalsenior]

9 hours ago, liuzhou said:

They are known as 油橄榄/油橄欖 (yóu gǎn lǎn), meaning ‘oil olive’,

The label on that is intriguing. Are they bottled in Spain for the Chinese market or are they imported in bulk and bottled in China. I find it interesting that it has a Spanish name and English lettering with the Chinese label.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to remember seeing olives on some of the dinners that you make. Which do you prefer, the Chinese or the European?

[liuzhou]

18 minutes ago, Tropicalsenior said:

The label on that is intriguing. Are they bottled in Spain for the Chinese market or are they imported in bulk and bottled in China. I find it interesting that it has a Spanish name and English lettering with the Chinese label.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to remember seeing olives on some of the dinners that you make. Which do you prefer, the Chinese or the European?

 

Yes, bottled in Spain and imported.

 

As to preference, definitely the imported, even though they are far from the best.  I don't really like the Chinese ones, although I do use the 'olive vegetable' sometimes. 

[Tropicalsenior]

9 hours ago, liuzhou said:

licorice olives

 

2 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

I don't really like the Chinese ones,

I can well imagine. These sound absolutely ghastly. Although I suppose that comparing the two types, Chinese and European, is like comparing apples and oranges.

[heidih]

23 minutes ago, Tropicalsenior said:

 

I can well imagine. These sound absolutely ghastly. Although I suppose that comparing the two types, Chinese and European, is like comparing apples and oranges.

But those Spanish olives he showed looked pretty ghastly too. Like the ubiquitous Lindsay pitted black olives some kids enjoyed wearing on their fingers. Put me off olives for a long time until I tasted a variety of pit-in green ones from Middle Eastern markets. I'd try the Chinese ones at least once and the vegetable paste as well.

[liuzhou]

 

One preservation method that is very seldom used here is commercial canning. This is the entire canned food section in the largest city centre supermarket.

 

 

The botton three shelves are full of canned fish of various types - mackerel, mostly. Next shelf up, on the left, four cans of sardines in tomato sauce and above them some Spam-alike luncheon meat, or as I call it, dog food!

 

And that's it!

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, liuzhou said:

And that's it!

Can you discuss why you think this is the case? Is freezing much of a commercial means of preserving food?  

[liuzhou]

5 minutes ago, Anna N said:

Can you discuss why you think this is the case? Is freezing much of a commercial means of preserving food?  

 

I guess people just prefer fresh food.

Freezing is similarly, rare. Only really fish and sea food; some sliced meats for hot pots. Maybe some dumplings. I'll take some pics next time in the supermarket.

I can promise you 90% of freezer compartments in fridge-freezers are empty.

[Anna N]

18 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

I guess people just prefer fresh food.

Certainly most of us prefer fresh food but in February in Ontario about the only things that grow are icicles. Our fresh food must travel many miles. So I suspect the answer is much more complex. 
 

[liuzhou]

1 minute ago, Anna N said:

Certainly most of us prefer fresh food but in February in Ontario about the only things that grow are icicles. Our fresh food must travel many miles. So I suspect the answer is much more complex. 
 

 

Well, I'm in the tropics and can only answer from there. But, as far as I remember, supermarkets in Beijing  and Jilin in the frozen north were the same.

Freezers in homes are relatively new here.

And people don't know how to use them.

 

Even much of the stuff in the supermarkets is hopelessly freezer-burned because they just throw in the fresh stuff they haven't sold that day! No wrapping. "Freezer-burn? Never heard"of it!"

I'll try to show you tomorrow. If the temperature drops below 40℃ / 104℉ for 15 minutes!

[Tropicalsenior]

40 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

 

I guess people just prefer fresh food.

Plus they have the centuries-old traditions of drying, pickling, and preserving their food.

Then again, maybe it's because they tried it and they just don't like it. I can't say that I would blame them for that.

Frozen food has never become a tradition in Costa Rica for two reasons. One is the fact that most people have refrigerators with tiny freezers and the second is that many people have to travel a great distance to buy their food and by the time they got home, by bus or on foot, it would be mush.

Edited August 4, 2021 by Tropicalsenior (log)

[liuzhou]

7 minutes ago, Tropicalsenior said:

Plus they have the centuries-old traditions of drying, pickling, and preserving their food.

Then again, maybe it's because they tried it and they just don't like it. I can't say that I would blame them for that.

 

Indeed. most of the frozen seafood is actually water, priced at seafood prices. The frozen dumplings are, at best, average.

Why would anyone buy frozen shrimp in  water, when they can walk 5 minutes away and buy the things live for less?

 

Edited August 4, 2021 by liuzhou (log)

[Anna N]

I am not at all sure of the reliability of this source but it is an interesting read. 
Here.

 

“The COVID-19 outbreak has proven what everyone long suspected – that Chinese people are not fans of food in cans.

According to Daxue Consulting's data, in 2016, per capita consumption of canned products stood at six kilograms in China – just a fraction of the roughly 57 kilograms an EU resident went through over the same year and the whopping 92 kilograms an average American tucked into.”