Pak-choi cabbage is traditional for China, it has been cultivated in this country for thousands of years. Recently, exotic culture has been gaining a well-deserved place on our tables. Its cultivation is not difficult, the pack-choi is early ripening and undemanding to soil fertility, while it has a good taste. The white fleshy petioles resemble asparagus or chard, while the green leaves are similar to spinach.
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Description of pak choy Chinese cabbage
Chinese cabbage pak choi is a close relative of Peking cabbage, but differs from it in appearance, growing conditions, and culinary use. In another way it is called mustard cabbage - for its spicy taste. It looks like an exotic salad up to 50 cm high and up to 30–40 cm in diameter. Smooth or pimply leaves are collected in a rosette, their color ranges from grayish and light green to dark green with white veins. It differs from Chinese cabbage in lower height, increased cold resistance and in that it does not form a head of cabbage. White succulent petioles are formed around the central bud, which make up the bulk of the plant. You can eat both tender sprouts and adult shoots. If you cut off young growth at the white base of the cabbage, after a while it will grow back.
In China, young pak-choi heads are most valued, they are small in size, up to 15 cm high - they are softer and more juicy.
Chinese cabbage stalks taste like asparagus or chard, and the leaves taste like spinach
Chinese cabbage combines dietary and medicinal properties, it contains:
- vitamin C - supports immunity, a source of antioxidants;
- vitamin P - strengthens blood vessels, helps the body fight viral and bacterial infections, reduces allergic reactions;
- vitamin A - improves vision, prevents atherosclerosis;
- magnesium, potassium, phosphorus - trace elements necessary for the normal functioning of the body;
- fiber - to cleanse the body of toxins, improve digestion;
- folic acid - it is especially necessary during pregnancy for the correct formation of the fetus;
- lysine, an essential (i.e., not produced in the human body) amino acid, which helps to fight various diseases, even cancer.
Pak-choi is great in the first spring salads, but you can make a soup, a side dish, and an independent vegetable dish from it. It goes well with other vegetables and meat products. When cooked, it becomes sweetish, and when fresh, it has a slight bitterness, like arugula. Chinese cabbage can be boiled, fried, stewed, even pickled and harvested for future use. Pak-choi is a fast-growing culture; it can be used for food within a month after planting.
Chinese cabbage should not be consumed in large quantities for diabetes because it can cause hypothyroidism and other hormonal disorders.
Popular varieties
In Russia, this crop is grown recently, so there are not so many zoned varieties:
- Alyonushka is a precocious variety with a medium-sized leaf rosette. The petiole is fleshy, of medium length, wide, green.
- Vesnyanka is an ultra-early ripening leaf variety for open and protected ground. Seedlings appear on the 3-4th day, the first harvest in 20-25 days. Semi-raised rosette, densely leafy, up to 35 cm high
- Swallow is an early-ripe petioled variety of Chinese cabbage. Shoots are juicy, white, fleshy. The mass of plants can reach 1 kg or more, with more than half of it being petioles.
- Swan is a mid-season (40–45 days) variety. Erect leaf rosette, up to 40 cm in diameter and up to 50 cm in height. Plant weight up to 1 kg. Petioles are bright white, up to 35 cm long, make up up to 80% of the plant mass. The variety is relatively resistant to early stemming, unfavorable weather conditions, suitable for thickening planting.
- Pava is a mid-season hybrid of Chinese and Peking cabbage. Combines large leaves and wide, dense, crispy petioles. The leaves are bright green, the petioles are white, fleshy, juicy, without fibers. Stalk resistant, so the variety can be sown at any time. Plants are very decorative, keep well after cutting.
Photo gallery: varieties of Chinese cabbage
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- Alyonushka is able to give two crops per season
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- Ultra-ripe Vesnyanka is suitable for open and protected ground
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- The swallow is prized for its juicy fleshy petioles
For growing outdoors in cold regions (in the Urals and southern Siberia), early maturing varieties are recommended in order to get two or more harvests per season almost unseen for these places. In cold summers and in cool climates, seeds can be planted throughout the growing season. In hot climates, it is better to choose flowering-resistant hybrids for planting.
Planting Chinese cabbage
The soil for the spring planting of this culture is prepared in the fall, choosing a place where no other cabbage has grown in order to avoid common pests (you can sow on the beds that are freed after onions or garlic).
Before digging, humus is introduced (Asian cultures do not tolerate manure well) - 1 bucket per 1 sq. meter, as well as 1 tbsp. a spoonful of superphosphate and potash fertilizers, if necessary, deacidify with lime. In the spring, the soil is dusted with ash to protect it from cruciferous fleas, which can damage delicate shoots.
For seedlings and early production, seeds are planted one at a time in separate pots of peat in mid-March. Seedlings do not dive (they have very delicate roots), but are planted in the ground when 4–5 true leaves appear (in late April - early May).
Pak-choy seedlings are transplanted to the garden when 4-5 true leaves appear
Sowing directly into the ground is carried out in rows on elongated beds. Leave a free space between the rows of crops of 30–40 cm. A film or white agrospan is placed on the beds. Seedlings from good seeds will appear about a week after planting. Thickened seedlings need to be thinned out, leaving about 20 cm between the shoots.
Chinese cabbage pak choy is a short daylight plant, it is better to plant it in early spring or late summer, and when sown from May to June, it can throw out the arrow and bloom. It is believed that the best harvest is obtained by late summer planting of Chinese cabbage. It is carried out in late July or early August, then the plants will have time to mature before frost.
Growing features
Even a novice gardener can grow Chinese cabbage, it is undemanding to care. But it also has its own characteristics:
- prefers loose soil, since its root system is superficial;
- it cannot be treated with chemicals, since it has a very short growing season;
- it is important to provide the plant with moisture, especially at the beginning of growing: abundant watering is needed, followed by shallow loosening of the soil, and in dry weather, sprinkling is useful.
Sprinkling in addition to the refreshing effect gives Pak Choi additional protection from pests.
Harvesting and storage of crops
Chinese cabbage can be harvested as leafy vegetables, removing the stalks as they ripen.With continuous harvesting, the cabbage is pulled out by the root, which is then cut off. Pak-choi is placed in a cool place or cellar, sprinkled with wet sand for storage without loss of taste for up to two or three months. Chinese cabbage in the east is stored by preparing kimchi from it - a national Korean and Chinese dish. It is known in Russia under the name "Korean cabbage".
Video: cooking with Chinese cabbage
Gardeners reviews
I really liked this plant)) It is tasty both fresh, fried and stewed. In the soup it is very unusual and tender. She sowed directly into the garden, all summer tore leaves from it for salad, then geese grabbed the garden ... well, the goat kissed ... And he grew back! The last one tore out in mid-October. And this is without any shelter ... I think they would have made it in the greenhouse until December))
I also grew such cabbage. Not capricious, but they love fleas. The leaves are juicy, but rougher than that of Peking. I didn't really like the taste, but apart from cauliflower, I am indifferent to cabbage.
I plant Chinese cabbage (Pak-Choi or Choy-Pak, I don't remember icon_lol.gif) in early May for seedlings in a greenhouse, 2-3 weeks later in the same greenhouse I plant along the edge. Kochanov does not work, but the leaves are better than any salad - juicy, tender. I especially like the petioles. I cut off the leaves gradually, and they gradually grow new ones. Until real salad is enough in abundance. Then it gets boring - I rip it out and throw it away in armfuls - the tomatoes need space. Why do we have white nights at this time, but it never came to flowering. If left longer, it probably would bloom. She also planted her on the street, but there her fleas were eaten clean. And not in the greenhouse, everything is clean.
Pak-choy cabbage allows you to diversify the menu in early spring, when traditional salads and greens have not yet grown. It is used in the diet to get rid of extra pounds, as a means of bowel cleansing, as a source of vitamins and minerals. Cooking this cabbage will not take much time, and it itself is decorative and will decorate the garden plot.
