Guixi Pickled Mustard Greens 贵溪捺菜
Guixi Pickled Mustard Greens is featured among the local specialties of Jiangxi.
Guixi Pickled Mustard Greens (贵溪捺菜) are a jar-cured relish of mustard greens from Guixi (贵溪) in Yingtan, Jiangxi, listed in Jiangxi's third batch of provincial intangible cultural heritage.
How it is made
The Yingtan municipal culture and tourism bureau describes a household method that begins in spring. Farm families wash their leftover mustard greens and dry them in the sun, slice the hearts and cut the stalks into lengths, then add chilli, Jerusalem artichoke, garlic, salt, monosodium glutamate, taro slices and fresh bamboo shoots. The mixture is rubbed and kneaded hard by hand until the greens release their juice, packed handful by handful into an earthenware jar, pressed down with a wooden stick and sealed with white sugar.
The bureau stresses judgement at each step. Greens dried too far turn out dry, tough and not crisp; greens left too wet go sour once the jar is sealed; and too much or too little of any seasoning changes the taste. The jars cure for nearly a year and are opened around the Spring Festival.
Flavour and texture
The bureau describes the relish as fresh, fragrant, crisp, tender, salty and hot at once, and after curing as sour, hot, salty and sweet together, crisp and refreshing, and good for sharpening the appetite. It is eaten with meals and drinks, carried as a travel food, and used as a seasoning ingredient when cooking fish, duck, rice noodles and wheat noodles.
Where it comes from
According to the bureau, Guixi Pickled Mustard Greens originated at Mount Longhu (龙虎山) in Yingtan and first appeared in the Song dynasty, more than 870 years ago, but only became widely made in homes in the Qianlong reign of the Qing dynasty. The emperor is said to have liked it so much that it became a tribute item, which gave it the name gongcai (贡菜), "tribute vegetable". Other names are "hundred-year vegetable" (百岁菜) and "longevity vegetable" (长寿菜), and "nine-headed lion vegetable" (九头狮菜), because the mustard plant is said to look like a lion with its root sending up nine branches. A local legend has the Celestial Master (天师) carrying it as travel food on his journeys.
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Also tied to the Celestial Master tradition of Mount Longhu; Guixi Pickled Mustard Greens are a household relish cured in earthenware jars for nearly a year.
Questions before you order
Why are Guixi Pickled Mustard Greens also called tribute vegetable?
The Yingtan culture and tourism bureau says the Qianlong emperor liked the relish so much that it became an imperial tribute item, hence the name gongcai (贡菜).
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and checked sentence by sentence against quoted extracts by a separate reviewer on 2026-09-26. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.