Relishing Chinese pickles

Pickles add a zing of flavor, a bit of crunch and typical Chinese breakfasts of congee and steamed bread seem incomplete without crispy, tangy pickles.

Salty, spicy, sugary, acidic pickles are not exactly loaded with health benefits, but they make a tasty garnish or side dish, contrasting with other ingredients, cutting through fat and adding texture.

There's a widespread belief in China that pickles are healthy in summer because they stimulate the appetite lost in hot and humid weather.

And in China, practically everything can be pickled, and is. They are mostly roots, stems, vegetables like small cucumbers, lettuce, cabbage, ginger, garlic, lotus root, peanuts, almonds, turnips, radish, to name a few.

Pickles are of three general kinds, jiang cai (酱菜, soy sauce vegetable), yan cai (腌菜, salt preserved vegetable) and pao cai (泡菜, salt spicy vegetable).

Among the famous pickles are Peiling (County) zha cai (榨菜, hot pickled mustard tuber) in Chongqing Municipality; Nanchong (County) dong cai (冬菜, dried mustard greens) in Sichuan Province, and jiang luobo (酱萝卜, soy sauce radish stem) in Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province; babao cai (八宝菜, eight-treasure pickles) in Beijing, and sauerkraut in Guizhou Province.

Pickling was originally used to safely preserve food, especially vegetables that were not available in winter, but later was developed for flavor.

The process typically involves water, vinegar, salt and sugar, plus spices. Soy sauce is also common.

Though Korea is better known for its pickles - notably fiery kimchi - Chinese pickles are far more diverse in ingredients and seasonings.

"Salty in the north, sweet in the south and spicy in the southeast" is the general picture of pickles in China, according to David Du, chef de cuisine at Hyatt on the Bund, who emphasizes the regional diversity.

Various pickles in Yangzhou are famous among southern pickles and known for being tasty, sweet, crisp and tender. It's said that Yangzhou pickles date back to the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220) and spread to Japan in the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907). Pickles are recorded in the imperial cuisine of the Qianlong Emperor in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911)

Soy sauce, sugar and salt are common in the south where there's usually an insistence on high-quality ingredients. For example, small, soy pickled cucumbers must have thin skin, tender flesh and 30 pieces must weigh no more than 500 grams to ensure crispness and taste.

Similarly, in the south, ginger for pickling should be tender and not fibrous; luosi cai (螺丝菜, pickled Chinese artichoke) should be thin, crisp and well shaped; and turnips must be small, round and white for soy pickling.