Know your Chinese Cabbage

Know your Chinese Cabbage - Introduction

• • Chinese cabbage, Brassica rapa, subspecies pekinensis and chinensis, can refer to two distinct varieties (see below) of Chinese leaf vegetables used often in Chinese cuisine.

  • These vegetables are both related to the Western cabbage, and are of the same species as the common turnip.

  • Both have many variations in name, spelling, and scientific classification–especially the "pak choi" or chinensis variety, see image above left.

Know your Chinese Cabbage - Varieties

• • There are two distinctly different groups of Brassica rapa used as leaf vegetables in China, and a wide range of varieties within these two groups. Click on the links to visit articles on each.

Brassica rapa sub. pekinensis - a.k.a. Napa cabbage

Also known as:

• Da baicai (lit. "large white vegetable");

• Baguio pechay or pechay wombok (Tagalog);

• Chinese white cabbage;

• Baechu (Korean),

• Wongbok and hakusai (Japanese: 白菜)

Brassica rapa sub. chinensis - a.k.a. Pak Choi

Also known as:

• Bok choy from Cantonese "white vegetable", also spelled bok choi, and pak choy.

• Xiao baicai, meaning "small white vegetable" in Mandarin.

• Chinese chard.

• Chinese mustard.

• Celery mustard.

• Spoon cabbage.