Sichuan Lacto-Fermented Pickles (Paocai, 泡菜): Starting Your First Batch
There are many ways to make brine and many factors that influence the outcome. We recommend starting with 14 grams salt per cup of water for short-term ferments in our glass paocai jar and 16 grams per cup for long-term ferments in the larger ceramic jar, adjusting for future batches if needed. Measurements below are per cup of water and can be used for any container.
Ingredients
Prepare 8 cups of brine for a 2.5-liter glass paocai jar
Prepare 12-13 cups of brine for a 4-liter ceramic paocai jar
Per each cup water:
- 14 to 16 grams Zigong well salt, kosher salt or other iodide-free salt
- 4 grams (1 teaspoon) Chinese rock sugar or white sugar
- 4 grams (½ tablespoon) Chinese baijiu, gin or vodka
- non-watery vegetables such as cabbage, radish, daikon, carrot, celery, celtuce, cauliflower, lotus root, long beans, ginger, fresh or dried chilies, etc. Enough to fill jar mostly full of vegetables for your first batch
- 1 to 2 tablespoons Sichuan peppercorns (optional)
Instructions
- Bring tap water to a boil and remove from heat. Add salt and sugar and stir to dissolve. Let brine cool to room temperature and add liquor. You can refrigerate to speed up the process
- Wash and dry vegetables and cut them into large pieces—large enough to be caught under the jar's "shoulders" and held beneath the brine, but small enough to be retrieved through the narrow neck of the jar. Add vegetables to clean, dry pickle jar, along with Sichuan peppercorns.
- Add brine to the jar, filling up to the bottom of the neck and being careful to place larger vegetables on top and tuck them under the jar's shoulders. You want to displace as much oxygen as possible, but also leave room for liquid expansion during fermentation. Replace lid and add tap water to the moat. Keep any leftover brine for topping up.
- When the brine begins to bubble, turn cloudy and take on the color of the vegetables in it—usually within 3-4 days—then you know that fermentation has started. With the ceramic jar, you’ll start to hear little “burps” as the gases escape. Test pickles periodically to assess sourness, using clean chopsticks or spoon, and make sure they are always covered with brine. Vegetables will lose their bright colors as they ferment, but not their crunch. Cabbage and softer vegetables may be ready to eat in 3-4 days, while harder vegetables may take 5-7 days or longer, depending on size of the vegetables, room temperature and desired sourness.
- Add water to the moat every few days as it evaporates to keep moat mostly full. If you keep the brine for weeks, periodically clean the jar’s lid with soap and water and sop up the water in the moat with a paper towel before replacing it with fresh water.
- As you use the pickles and the brine recedes, replenish the crock with more salt water, liquor, seasonings and vegetables. Add water and salt in the same ratio as your original brine, using either filtered water or boiled-and-cooled water. Even if no additional liquid is needed, add more salt whenever you add a new batch of vegetables. No need to dissolve salt first. Continue making new batches of pickles in the brine for as long as it tastes fresh and pleasing and not rotty. Sichuan picklers can keep a brine going for years!
- To serve as a side dish, cut an assortment of pickled vegetables in bite-size pieces and serve as is or drizzle with chili oil/crisp.