ABSTRACT
Various leaf mustard cultivars (Brassica juncea Coss) are grown in Asia, India, and Africa. In southeastern China and Taiwan, leaf mustard is commonly grown in the fall and winter seasons when temperature and humidity are lower than in the other seasons. In Taiwan, the head-type mustards (Fig. 1) are cultivated as a winter crop following the fall crop of rice, and the cultivation period is about 3 months. Most of the harvested leaf mustards are dry-salted in wells or vats for fermentation to prepare leaf mustard pickles. After fermentation, the resultant yellowish pickles, bearing a crispy texture and a sound pickled flavor, are called Hum-choy, which means sour vegetable or salty vegetable in Chinese (Fig. 2). The products are popularly accepted as pickles and ingredients for Chinese food preparation. In this chapter, preparation of leaf mustard pickles and their derived products are described.
