Pak Choi: Everything from tending to harvest

Pak Choi is ideal for quick or Asian cuisine! Here you can find out everything about the origin of cabbage and whether you can still eat pak choi after flowering.

The Pak Choi (Brassicarapa subsp. chinensis) has a visual similarity to the Swiss chard (betavulgaris ssp. vulgaris), which has given it the name "Chinese chard" in the English-speaking world. As an integral part of Asian cuisine, the main growing areas are predominantly in Asia. In addition, Pak Choi has also been grown on a larger scale in Dutch greenhouses for a number of years. But also in the open field you can find the special vegetables in some fields.

Pak Choi: Origin and Characteristics

Pak Choi comes from the East Asian region and is traditionally prepared in many dishes there and eaten in large quantities. There are larger growing areas in Korea, Japan, Taiwan and China. With us it will

asian vegetables only grown for a relatively short time. In German, Pak Choi is also known as Chinese salad, Chinese leaf cabbage or Japanese cabbage. In the Netherlands it is called Paksoi, in English Chinese Chard or Chinese Mustard. By the way, pak choi translates as "white vegetables".

Depending on the variety, there are forms with white or light green, easily breaking stems, as well as red or green leaves and different growth sizes. The spoon-shaped leaves of the plant form a rounded rosette after a while. In contrast to the Chinese cabbage (Brassicarapa ssp. pekinensis) the plants do not form a solid head. The taste of the pak choi is milder, more juicy and more aromatic than that of the related Chinese cabbage, and the typical cabbage taste is completely absent here. In contrast to most other types of cabbage, the Pak Choi is used whole, i.e. the leaves and the juicy, light-colored leaf veins. As a location, the Asian vegetables need loose, nutrient-rich soil and mild weather. We recommend ours for growing in pots and window boxes Plantura organic tomato & vegetable soilwhich has a compost-rich, loose structure and contains nutrients for the first growth phase.

The bloom is at Growing pak choi not exactly welcome, because instead of leaves an elongated stem with lemon-yellow, cross-shaped flowers forms. The leaf veins become woodier and hardly any leaves can be harvested. Pak Choi is a long-day plant, which means that daylight periods of more than 10 to 14 hours of light make it bloom. Low temperatures also encourage flower formation. To prevent this, bulletproof varieties are bred and the pak choi are only sown when the length of the day becomes shorter again after the end of June, but it is warm in summer. Of course, even if your pak choi is in bloom, you can still harvest and eat it. The flowers and buds of the pak choi themselves are edible, they taste a bit hot and spicy. Alternatively, you can let the flowers stand and harvest seeds later. You can find out more about this in the section on propagating pak choi.

Maintain pak choi

Pak Choi is quite easy to care for once it is in a good spot. However, the plants require a lot of water and should therefore be mulched well and watered regularly in dry summers. Pak Choi needs nutrient-rich soils and plenty of water to grow quickly and produce a good yield. We recommend a primarily organic long-term fertilizer like ours Plantura organic tomato fertilizer. The granulate is worked into the surface around the plants and broken down by microorganisms in the soil. The nutrients released in this way supply the Pak Choi for two months until they are ready to be harvested.

Harvesting, storing and preserving pak choi

The plants are ready for harvest from August to the end of September. Either you cut off some leaves gradually and from the outside in, or you harvest the whole plant in one fell swoop. Flowering plants can also be harvested, but then they are no longer so tender, but slightly woody on the stem. Whole pak choi plants can be kept moist in the refrigerator for a few days. If the plant and its roots are harvested, it can also be stored in the cellar for a few weeks. Here the roots should be driven in with sand. Pak Choi should not be frozen as it becomes mushy and tastes bland when thawed later.

Increase Pak Choi

You can propagate solid seed varieties of Pak Choi yourself in the garden. For this you need naturally flowering plants. The Pak Choi flowers when the young plants have been exposed to low temperatures or when there is more than 10 to 14 hours of daylight. For example, you can sow in May, or grow the young plants outdoors from April onwards. So there should be enough plants to shoot and bloom. The edible flowers are often visited and pollinated by insects. Now the typical cabbage pods with seeds are formed. If you want to win the pak choi seeds, you have to wait until the pods are brownish and dry. Now cut off the seed heads and let them dry a little in the house until they rustle. Then the seeds can be freed from the pods if they have not already opened. The round seeds are kept dry and cool and can germinate for about three to five years.

Diseases and pests on Pak Choi

Pak Choi is considered robust and hardly susceptible to disease. the Carbonic hernia however, it can be very damaging to the plant. For this reason, cabbage should only be grown at the same location every four to five years. We have not yet seen any infestation with the in our garden Cabbage white butterfly observe, even if this butterfly is supposed to attack this type of cabbage from time to time. Earth fleas can miss many small holes in the leaves, weaken the plant and impair its appearance. To prevent fleas, the soil should always be kept slightly moist, for example by mulching. In specialist shops there are also very fine-meshed nets that protect young plants from infestation by fleas and cabbage white fleas.

Pak Choi: Ingredients and Uses in Cooking

In addition to high levels of vitamins B and C, Pak Choi contains a particularly large number of minerals. Magnesium, calcium, potassium and iron are found in large quantities. As is usual with cabbage, the Asian Pak Choi also contains secondary plant substances such as mustard oils and flavonoids, which have an antimicrobial effect.

Pak Choi can be eaten raw and cooked because it is much easier to digest than other types of cabbage. In the home kitchen, the fresh Pak Choi plants can be prepared raw for a salad. Pak Choi is much more often used as a seared, braised or steamed side dish for all kinds of dishes. In general, it is prepared in a similar way to Swiss chard or spinach in western cuisine. The pak choi should only be sautéed briefly, as it disintegrates very quickly and vitamins are lost. So that the many valuable minerals do not dissolve, the Pak Choi should only be blanched if possible.

Pak Choi are available in a wide variety of variants and colors, as mini or baby Pak Choi or with red leaves. Discover the diversity and learn about the different in our special article Pak Choi varieties know.