Pickled Mustard Greens 酸菜

🧂 Ingredients

• 4.5 kg Pickled mustard greens
• 167 g Course sea salt
• 33 g Rock sugar (cane)
• 600 ml Rice water
• 4.8 litre Glass jar and a clean rock, plate or bowl that can be used as weight inside the jar to prevent the vegetables from floating above the water
• 1 pair Plastic gloves for food preparation

Instructions

• 1 Estimate the amount of rice water you’ll need and start saving it for pickling.
  The rice water can last a few days if you boil it, let it cool and store in the
  fridge. If you don’t have enough, you can always make some with some rice flour
  See notes below for how to make rice water
• 2 Clean vegetables by using a dry towel. Have a bowl of cooled boiled water on
  hand in case you need to use some water to clean off dirt. At the same time,
  remove the flower buds and yellow leaves from the vegetables. Flower buds on
  vegetables are said to be nesting grounds for insects
• 3 After cleaning and culling the vegetables, weigh them to calculate how much salt
  and sugar you need
• 4 Use all of the rice water you saved to melt the rock sugar. Let cool and set
  aside. If you're not adding the rock sugar, you will still need to bring the
  rice water to a boil and let it cool
• 5 Boil around 2 litres of water in a pot. When the water is boiling, place the
  vegetable in the pot one head at a time, putting the head first and then leaves.
  Remove after 4-5 seconds or when the vegetable changes to a bright green colour.
  Continue until all vegetables have been processed. Water must be at a rolling
  boil when you put the vegetables in This process helps to sterilize the
  vegetables
• 6 Line the vegetables in a tray and sprinkle the salt evenly onto all the
  vegetables
• 7 Put on plastic gloves and rub the sprinkled salt into the inside of the
  vegetable. Rub onto all the leaves and stems as much as possible. Continue for
  all the vegetables
• 8 Line the vegetables into the jar
• 9 Pour the cooled rice water into the jar until the liquid covers the top of the
  vegetables
• 10 Weigh the vegetables down with a plate or bowl. Close the jar
• 11 Keep the jar at room temperature away from direct sunlight for 20 days It will
  be edible after around 6 days, but fermenting for 20 days will allow the
  lacto-fermentation process to reach its potential
• 12 After 20 days, remove the pickled mustard greens from the jar, discard the
  liquids and rinse the pickled mustard greens with water then pat dry with paper
  towels. You can use them immediately or store in the fridge in a ziploc bag for
  up to 3 months.
• 13 You can chop them up, add sesame oil and some chilis to make a side dish; add
  them to soup; or add to a stir-fry dish.

Nutrition Info