Napa cabbage in a large clay vat is pressed down with a stone, a pickle crock beside it has water in its rim groove, plates hold sliced sour cabbage and mixed pickles, and a bowl of pickle shreds is dressed with chili oil and sesame.
Salted and soured
Introduction
Vegetables kept by salting or fermenting: sour cabbage, brined pickles and salted greens.
Pickles cover vegetables preserved by salting or lactic fermentation, including sour cabbage, jar-pickled vegetables and salted greens. Northeastern sour cabbage is cabbage salted and soured by lactic acid bacteria, while Sichuan pickles are vegetables steeped in brine in a sealed jar with spices and wine added. The Shijing poem Xin Nan Shan has the line about peeling and pickling, and zu means pickled vegetables, so pickling already existed before the Qin. Pickles are eaten with rice and also used to cook dishes. The kimchi of the Korean community may also be placed under Ethnic Korean Cuisine of China.