Preserved Vegetables

Preserved vegetables are the flavour bombs of Asian cooking — salted, pickled and fermented vegetables that add instant depth to rice, noodles, soups and stir-fries. This collection stocks the range properly, from Korean kimchi to Chinese zhacai.

Kimchi leads: cabbage and sliced kimchi in jars and tubs, from everyday Korean producers — eat it as banchan, fry it with rice, or simmer it into jjigae. The Chinese side runs deep: pickled mustard greens in brine for noodle soups, zhacai — the savoury shredded mustard tuber — for congee and stir-fries, and preserved bamboo shoots in soybean oil that are a dish in themselves over rice. Seasoned mustard leaves with olive, spicy shredded vegetable mixes and fried shallots — the garnish that improves everything it touches — round out the shelf.

A little goes a long way. Preserved vegetables are concentrated seasoning as much as side dish, so a jar or two in the fridge transforms plain rice and simple noodles all week. Most keep for months once opened, refrigerated.

Everything is delivered UK-wide from our Manchester store, with free delivery on orders over £75. If you are new to this shelf, start with kimchi, a jar of zhacai and a bag of fried shallots — the three hardest-working preserves we sell.