Suimiyacai

The Yibin mustard stem pickle from Sichuan. It is fermented, partly dried and sweet, and it is sold chopped in bags. It is the ingredient that makes a dan dan bowl taste like dan dan. It is not dry. The finished pickle holds approximately 44 percent water, but that water is inside the plant tissue. It has no free brine. So it can go into hot fat from the bag, with no soak and no dry-fry. A bag marked 无需洗泡 says this on the front: no rinse and no soak. It holds approximately 8.5 percent salt and a high level of free glutamate. Set the dose by its salt. It tastes sweet, so fry it at medium heat. Pickled mustard greens can replace it. They are wetter and less concentrated, and they need a soak, a squeeze and a dry-fry.

Item no. 7

Aisle Produce

Usual unit g

Recipes 2

Also called

ya caiyacaisui mi ya caiYibin preserved mustardSichuan preserved vegetableYibin yacaiYibin suimiyacai碎米芽菜芽菜

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Substitutes

one

Pickled mustard greens

Ingredient 20

NOTE · RESEARCH Composition of Yibin yacai after fermentation

A study followed Yibin yacai through fermentation. The finished product held approximately 44 % water and 8.5 % salt, at pH 5.3. Salt and water changed little during fermentation.

Glutamic acid reached approximately 1.9 % and aspartic acid approximately 1.0 %. These are the main savoury amino acids. Both were approximately three times their level at 20 days of fermentation.

Reducing sugar decreased during fermentation, to approximately 0.16 %.

These values come from one study. A bag in the kitchen can be different. Read its label for salt.

[1] Food Science (食品科学), 2013, vol. 34, issue 16, p. 243. Dynamic changes in physicochemical indexes, organic acids and amino acids during fermentation of Yibin yacai. Consulted 17 SEP 2026www.spkx.net.cn/CN/Y2013/V34/I16/243

Recipes using it

two

Recipe

Gan Bian Si Ji Dou (干煸四季豆)

Sichuan dry-fried green beans with a crisp pork and shiitake crumble, and chilli and Sichuan pepper fried to hu la

Sichuan · First revision · 17 SEP 2026

Recipe

Dan Dan Udon

Sichuan architecture on a Japanese noodle, bound in a cold silken tofu emulsion

Sichuan · Second revision · 17 SEP 2026