The market · Seasonings and ferments · East Asia

Yacai

Sichuan preserved mustard greens from Yibin: stems salted, dried and fermented with sugar, dark, sweet-salty and savoury.

sweet · salty · earthy

Goes with

minced porkchilli oilnoodlesichuan pepper

Knowing it

Where to buy
Chinese grocers, in small foil packs.
Worth knowing
The dark crumbs in dan dan noodles and dry-fried green beans. Fry it with the pork.

Kitchens that keep it in

Sichuan province, south-western ChinaSichuanBold and layered: the numbing tingle of Sichuan pepper with the heat of chilli — málà — alongside some two dozen named flavour combinations.11 classics

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