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.