Instructions for making Sichuan dried salted vegetables

The salted vegetables in the Bayu region of Sichuan are a special delicacy with a very fragrant flavor. Today I will talk about the method of making Sichuan dried salted vegetables, so that you can understand how traditional Sichuan salted vegetables are pickled.

To make salted vegetables, leafy vegetables or radish are generally used. The tender stems and leaves are taken as raw materials. The muscle fascia and thin skin are removed. After being soaked in cold water, they are hung on ropes to dry for three to five days. Before drying, it is best to pay attention to the weather forecast to see if there will be clear and sunny days in the near future. Such weather is most suitable for making salted vegetables.

After the vegetables and fruits are dried and softened, take them out and put them in a clean large wooden basin. Add salt and rub them until the vegetables and fruits are juicy. At this time, you can add spices such as pepper powder, star anise powder or cinnamon powder and stir (or do not add spices). Put them in a clean sack, tie a seal, and press them with hanging objects such as stone rollers or bluestone slabs.

This is how it is pickled. After seven days of pickling, take it out and let it dry for a day, then put it in a steamer to steam it thoroughly, and then dry it in the sun. After steaming and drying twice, take several vegetables and fruits, wrap them into a bunch, and put them into a special pickle jar with the mouth facing down and the face facing up (Sichuan respectfully calls this kind of pickle jar a "rudaofu jar").

After filling the pickled vegetable jar, cover the vegetables and fruits with clean tung leaves or banana leaves, and then add an appropriate amount of clean dry wheat straw to seal the jar mouth. Next, place the pickled vegetable jar upside down in the sink, add water that does not cover the mouth of the jar, and after fermenting for one and a half hours, the pickled vegetables will become salted vegetables, which can now be taken out and eaten.

There are various ways to eat salted vegetables, and the taste is different depending on the way you eat them. But whether you eat it directly, boiled, fried or steamed, it has a very special and rich aroma. If we put the salted vegetables at home for a period of time, the whole room will be filled with the aroma of the salted vegetables for a long time.