Yu choy

Brassica rapa var. parachinensis · Brassica

40 pairings

Yu choy (Brassica rapa var. parachinensis), also spelled yau choy or yow choy and known in English as choy sum or flowering oilseed rape, is a leafy cool-season brassica grown for its tender flowering shoots — slim green stalks carrying oval leaves and clusters of small four-petalled yellow flowers, all of which are eaten. It is among the most eaten leafy greens of southern China, a workhorse everyday vegetable with a robust, distinctly green, faintly mustardy flavour and a gentle bitterness. It cooks in moments and is most often blanched and dressed with oyster sauce or stir-fried hard with garlic, the stems added a beat before the leaves so both finish crisp-tender at once.

Picking a good onedrag

Buds tight, stems squeakyBlown, yellow, stems tough

First flowersFirst flowers open is the point it is grown for: stir-fry hard, stems a beat before the leaves.Everyday best

Buds and bladesBuds yellow, first flowers open, blades green

The stemStill snaps, the break face only damp

Cut endRim drying, still pale inside the cut

Smell at the cutClean and grassy, almost nothing

What to look for, from buds tight, stems squeaky to blown, yellow, stems tough.

Keeping ittap a band

A domestic fridge holds it about 6× longer than the counter.

Humidity

95-100%

Near-saturated. Wrap it damp in a vented bag; in dry fridge air the slim stalks toughen and the blades dry at the edges within a day.

Airflow

Still air, vented bag

Keep air movement low so it does not dry out, but never seal it: trapped carbon dioxide and starved oxygen bring off odours and soft rot.

Ethylene yellows the leaves

Keep apples, pears and bananas well away: ethylene anywhere in the handling chain shortens its life and yellows the blades.

Preparing