Is snow mustard actually a pickled vegetable? Let's make it clear once and for all

Snow mustard is not a pickled vegetable. Snow mustard is also called snow-in-red (potherb mustard); its stems and leaves are an ordinary vegetable. Pickled vegetables are vegetables that have been salted with table salt and other seasonings. They have a fairly strong salty taste and can be stored for a long time.

1. Snow mustard

Snow-in-red (potherb mustard), an annual herbaceous plant and a variety of mustard, is made by pickling mustard leaves together with the stems, and that is snow-in-red (also known as snow-in-old-man), commonly called spicy vegetable. The leaves are deeply lobed with crinkled edges, and the flowers are bright yellow. In northern China, the leaves turn purplish red in autumn and winter, hence the name “snow-in-red”. In southern China, because the purplish-red “snow-in-red” is rarely seen, it has also been misreported as “snow-in-hong” (potherb mustard). It has effects such as detoxifying and reducing swelling, stimulating the appetite and promoting digestion, warming the middle and regulating qi, and brightening the eyes and relieving chest congestion. It mainly treats sores, carbuncles, swelling and pain, chest and diaphragm fullness and tightness, cough with profuse phlegm, loss of hearing and vision, swollen and rotting gums, constipation and other conditions.

2. Pickled vegetables

Pickled vegetables, pickled vegetables can be regarded as a kind of Chinese culture. The main ingredients used to make them include cucumber, chili pepper, soy sauce, various vegetables, salt and so on. Different kinds of pickled vegetables use different ingredients. Most are made with local materials; some places use mustard, some places use Chinese cabbage, some places use radish, some places also use other vegetables for pickling, and some places use preserved mustard greens. The reason pickled vegetables are so widespread in China is that in ancient times there were no refrigerators, and even less out-of-season vegetables, so it was impossible for people to eat green vegetables in winter, and therefore pickling was invented.

From this we can see that the difference between snow mustard and pickled vegetables is still quite large. In addition, the stems and leaves of snow-in-red can also be pickled and eaten.