News

Pickled prosperity: Fuling dish now known globally

Updated: 2010-07-29 14:56

Pickled mustard root, a seemingly humble part of the Chinese dinner table, has turned out to be a culinary giant popular with millions, especially when traveling or along with fast food.

Made from mustard root, a large, radish-like vegetable indigenous to Fuling, a district of Chongqing municipality in southwest China, the traditional dish’s history can be traced back more than 110 years.

Qiu Shou’an, a local businessman in Fuling, pickled the vegetable, squeezed out the salt water, mixed it with spices and then cured it over time. Its unique flavor won customers from the moment it went on sale.

Since winning a gold award at the Panama-Pacific International Expo in 1915, the Fuling preserved vegetable has ranked along with the Western pickle and Germany’s sauerkraut as world’s most popular pickled dishes.

Nowadays, whether in a convenience store or a supermarket, Fuling-made pickles are often one of the most common items on the shelves.

Approved as a geographical indication by the State Administration of Industry and Commerce (SAIC) in 2000, the processed vegetable is now a pillar industry in the district.

Some 600,000 local farmers grow mustard root across 433 sq km. Their yield is projected to reach 1.5 million tons this year, up 202 percent from 10 years ago. The sector generated 4 billion yuan in gross revenue in 2009.

The Fuling pickle continues to win honors and was included on the list of protected original local products in 2005.

Its production procedures were then listed as national intangible cultural heritage in 2008. It was praised at a 2009 international seminar as an example of how a geographic product can help advance a rural economy.

Early this year, it was recognized as a well-known trademark by SAIC.

Fuling pickles are now exported to more than 50 countries and regions, including Southeast Asia, Europe and the United States.

According to the district’s development plan, the sector will continue on the path of modernization and internationalization.

Faming fields are expected to expand to more than 533 sq km by 2020, providing an estimated 2 million tons of raw materials for producing the pickled dish.

The sector is projected to quadruple gross revenue, exports and farmers’ earnings by that time.