榨菜, photo 1 of 3
榨菜, photo 2 of 3
榨菜, photo 3 of 3

Photo credit

Photo
Tsa Tsai
By
No machine-readable author provided. Rainer Zenz assumed (based on copyright cla
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Source
Wikimedia Commons
Changes
Cropped and resized

Photo credit

Photo
TwoHeadsZhacai
By
Sjschen
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Source
Wikimedia Commons
Changes
Cropped and resized

Photo credit

Photo
Raw zhacai in market (20201006161608)
By
N509FZ
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Source
Wikimedia Commons
Changes
Cropped and resized

榨菜

zhàcài
noun

Measure Word

Meanings

  1. 1 zhacai
  2. 2 pickled mustard tuber
  3. 3 Sichuan preserved vegetable

About the ingredient

蔬菜 Vegetables

The knobbly, fist-sized stem of a mustard plant, salted, pressed and rubbed with chili paste: crunchy, very salty and a little sour. Sold in small packets, eaten with congee and noodles, and cooked with shredded pork.

Examples

HSK 6
Wǒ zǎoshang hē zhōu de shíhou xǐhuan pèi yìdiǎn zhàcài.
When I have congee in the morning, I like a little zhacai on the side.
HSK 6
Zuò huǒchē de shíhou, hěnduō rén huì dài pàomiàn hé zhàcài.
On train journeys, many people bring instant noodles and zhacai.

Tips

culture
榨菜 is the swollen stem of a mustard plant, salted, pressed to drain it (the 榨 'to press') and spiced with chili. 涪陵 in Chongqing is its home. Because migrant workers buy so much of it, economists have used sales of 榨菜 to track where those workers are moving.

Stroke Order

榨 zhà
菜 cài