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Vegetables from Kangbao County, Bashang plateau, Hebei, China

Bashang suancai (Hebei plateau cabbage pickle)坝上酸菜

Head cabbage is cut into squares, salted at 4% and pressed under a heavy weight in a pot, with no starter. In a June study the pickle was already sour and edible by day 3, and the ferment was followed for 7 days as Leuconostoc gave way to Lactiplantibacillus.

Fully documentedVegetables7 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceHome-made batch studied by Liu et al. 2024; salt is the only measured addition.
Head cabbage, outer leaves removed, rinsed and cut into about 3 × 3 cm squares[liu2024]
Salt4%[liu2024]
White radish and carrot (optional)Cabbage is the main vegetable; the others may be pickled alone or with it[liu2024]
Starterspontaneous

Total time across the recorded steps: 7 days

Start
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What changes: The cabbage is trimmed, rinsed and cut into small squares

Step 1 of 5
Cut the cabbage into squares
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Leuconostoc
Latilactobacillus
Companilactobacillus
Pediococcus
Lactiplantibacillus
Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Head cabbage is cut into squares, salted at 4% and pressed under a heavy weight in a pot, with no starter. In a June study the pickle was already sour and edible by day 3, and the ferment was followed for 7 days as Leuconostoc gave way to Lactiplantibacillus. Made in 5 steps over 7 days. The longest step, finish, takes 4 days (Liu Y 2024). Salt is 4 % (Liu Y 2024). Leuconostoc and Latilactobacillus do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step4 daysReported[liu2024]Finish
Temperature18–20 °CReported[liu2024]Salt and press under a heavy weight in a pot
Salt4 %Reported[liu2024]Salt and press under a heavy weight in a pot
AciditypH 3.2 → 3.21Measured[liu2024]Finish

What makes this one different

Bashang suancai uses head cabbage cut into squares with 4% salt, and in the June study it was sour and edible by day 3. Pickles made in the warmer months (July and August) grew more lactic bacteria and more aroma.

Related ferments

Safety

Nitrite peaked at 17.92 mg/kg on day 5, under the 20 mg/kg limit of China's food contaminant standard (GB 2762-2017) that the study cites, and fell by day 7. Vibrio was abundant in the brine.

Hazards the sources name: Vibrio (abundant through the ferment, a marker on day 3).

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Liu et al. (2024) describe Bashang suancai as a traditional pickle of the Bashang region and its neighbours in Hebei, Inner Mongolia and Shanxi, made like Dongbei suancai but from head cabbage. Wang et al. (2026), reviewing suancai in Northeast China, say suancai is recorded in the Zhou Li and the Book of Songs and that the Qimin Yaoshu explains its pickling methods.

  1. [liu2024] Liu Y., Yin C., Wang J. et al. 2024, Characterization of the microbial communities and their correlations with volatile flavor compounds and physicochemical factors in Bashang suancai, Front. Microbiol. 15:1478207paper
  2. [liu2025] Liu Y., Yan Z., Chen J. et al. 2025, Changes of microbial community diversity and flavor substances during fermentation of Bashang suancai in different months, LWT 238, 118862paper
  3. [wang2026] Wang Q. et al. 2026, Basic research and industrial development status of suancai in Northeast China: history, microflora diversity, processing technology, nutrition and safety, Food Science and Human Wellness 15:9250306 (a review of Northeast suancai; used here for the history of suancai in general)paper