Chinese cabbage
Chinese cabbage is either of two cultivar groups of leaf vegetables often used in Chinese cuisine: the Pekinensis Group and the Chinensis Group.
These vegetables are both variant cultivars or subspecies of B. rapa and belong to the same genus as Brassica oleracea, whose cultivars include Western staples such as cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower. Both B. rapa cultivars have many variations in name, spelling, and scientific classification, especially bok choy cultivars.
History
The Chinese cabbage was principally grown in the Yangtze River Delta region, but the Ming dynasty naturalist Li Shizhen popularized it by bringing attention to its medicinal qualities. The variant cultivated in Zhejiang around the 14th century was brought north, and the northern harvest of napa cabbage soon exceeded the southern one. These were then exported back south along the Grand Canal to Hangzhou and traded by sea as far south as Guangdong.Napa cabbage became a staple in Northeastern Chinese cuisine for making suan cai, Chinese sauerkraut. In Korea, napa cabbage was used for baek-kimchi, which developed into kimchi. Chinese cabbage is now commonly found in markets throughout the world, catering both to the Chinese diaspora and to northern markets that appreciate its resistance to cold.
In 2017, aboard the International Space Station, a crop of Chinese cabbage from a plant growth device included an allotment for crew consumption, while the rest was saved for scientific study.