Lynette Lo Tom shares a recipe for classic pickled mustard cabbage, tsin choy, in “A Chinese Kitchen.” She recommends using just the crunchy stem of the vegetable for this dish. Save the leafy parts for other uses.

Courtesy Esther “Dede” Lo Chinn

• 5 pounds fresh mustard cabbage
• 1/2 cup rock salt
• 4 cups sugar
• 3 cups white vinegar

Clean each leaf, paying special attention to the bottoms as they tend to capture dirt. Cut into 1-inch pieces, then wash again and drain.

Mix with salt and let sit unrefrigerated for at least 1 hour. Drain water, but do not rinse off salt.

Boil sugar and vinegar until sugar is dissolved. Cool.

Stuff clean jars with salted, wilted cabbage. Fill with vinegar mixture. Cover; leave unrefrigerated 1 day, then refrigerate. Eat plain or stir-fry with squid or pork. Makes about 5 pints.

Variation: Use same method to pickle bitter melon, seeded and sliced lengthwise in diagonal pieces less than 1/4-inch thick. Pickled this way, only a bit of bitterness remains.

Nutritional information unavailable.

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