Can I Preserve Bok Choy From My Garden?

[Susan Chouinard]

My husband loves chinese greens, and planted a huge section full of Bok
Choy. Can I preserve it by canning? Do I need to pressure can it? Does
anyone have a good recipe for canning greens?

[Ivan Weiss]

Greens such as bok choy are low acid, so yes, you would have to
pressure-can them. I wonder why you would bother, as they would certainly
turn to mush, given the pressure and cooking time you would need to
assure safety.

You could chop your bok choy, steam it and freeze it. But you would lose
something in that process, too, although quality-wise it's way better
than canning in my experience.

My favorite way to preserve homegrown greens is to make a lot of kim
chee. This retains more crispness and food value than either canning or
freezing, from what I have studied. (If anyone has conflicting
evidence, please post it). Bok Choy makes excellent kim chee.

Ivan Weiss
Seattle Times
iwei...@seatimes.com
Standard disclaimer

[pa...@aa.net]

> Ivan Weiss <iwei...@seatimes.com> writes:

> My favorite way to preserve homegrown greens is to make a lot of kim
> chee. This retains more crispness and food value than either canning or
> freezing, from what I have studied. (If anyone has conflicting
> evidence, please post it). Bok Choy makes excellent kim chee.

I'd love to see your kim chee recipes...I got several from a couple of different sources, and after reading the labels of Sun
Luck and Island Spring commercial kim chees as well as recipes from newsgroups, I sort of made a composite recipe, and
have made a lot, mostly with napa cabbage rather than bok choy. One thing my wife and I have debated a bit is just how
long kim chee lasts under refridgeration...After wilting the greens with the salt and mixing with the ginger, sugar and chili
flakes, we pack into 1/2 pint jars and ferment in the fridge. This usually takes 10 days or two weeks until it tastes right. My
wife thinks it will keep indefinitely, I am not so sure. I wonder if the lactic process goes to a point and stabliizes, or what. I
hope like heck that if it smells and tastes okay, it is okay...

[md...@sparc1.castles.com]

> My favorite way to preserve homegrown greens is to make a lot of kim
>> chee. This retains more crispness and food value than either canning >> or freezing, from what I have studied. (If anyone has conflicting
>> evidence, please post it). Bok Choy makes excellent kim chee.

>I'd love to see your kim chee recipes...I got several from a couple of different sources, and after reading the labels of Sun
>Luck and Island Spring commercial kim chees as well as recipes from newsgroups, I sort of made a composite recipe, and
>have made a lot, mostly with napa cabbage rather than bok choy.

>My wife thinks it will keep indefinitely, I am not so sure. I wonder if the lactic process goes to a point and stabliizes, or what. I
>hope like heck that if it smells and tastes okay, it is okay...

Hi! Sorry to have been so shallow but long ago I broke up with a boy
because he liked to eat kim chee. What a stink!