Seasonality
Varieties
Varieties we grow and love: the Chinese cabbages and Asian greens encompass a fairly extensive group of Brassicas. Bok Choy and Pak Choi are kind of interchangeable names, I’ve been told that bok or pak mean white and choy/choi means vegetable…so let’s just agree to lump any of the thick and juicy, white stemmed vegetable in the brassica family as choy 🙂 Bok Choy is Brassica rapa Chinensis group. What’s what? The Brassica rapa Pekinensis (Napa) forms tight heads, like the regular cabbages, the Chinensis form a bunch of stalks with leaves – more like the habit of celery.
There’s a PILE of varieties but we grow about four varieties consistently.
- Joi Choi- white stems with dark green leaves
- Mei Qing Choi- pale green (oops, not white) stems and leaves
- Red Pac- yes, it has red leaves
- Tatsoi
- Shanghai choi – flatish lght green stems
- Win-Win
Storage
As always, fresh produce is most delicious and nutritious when consumed as close to the harvest date as possible.
Keep in perforated plastic bag in fridge…it does not keep for long as the leafy part wilts pretty quickly.
Culinary Info
– can be enjoyed in:
- fresh in salads
- stir-fry
- soup
- fabulous sauteed in a little oil and garlic
- slaw
- kim chi
Tips for preparing: dunk whole in large bowl of water…if it is a large head you can try cutting it in half the long way and rinsing. Sometimes there’s nothing for it but to wash the outer stalks one by one…depending on the growing season.
Also check out these great recipes: