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 sent from our Manchester store, with free standard delivery over £75 to most UK postcodes. 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.