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Traditional Chinese pickled vegetables

Suancai (also called suan tsai and Chinese sauerkraut; ) is a traditional Chinese pickled Chinese cabbage (napa cabbage) or Chinese mustard, used for a variety of purposes. Suancai is a unique form of paocai, due to the ingredients used and the method of production.

Adding nutrients to suan cai can reduce the fermentation time and nitrite content of suan cai, for example, Asp, Thr, Glu, Cys, Tyr, Mg2+, Mn2+ and inosine. With the condition of , the fermentation time of suan cai is reduced by 5 days compared with that of unsupplemented suan cai, and the nitrite content of suan cai supplemented with these nutrients was approximately 0.7 times less than that of suan cai without supplemented nutrients.

In Chinese Islamic cuisine, suancai can top off noodle soups, especially beef noodle soup.

In Hakka cuisine, suancai (called soen choi in Hakka) is a common pantry staple used in many Hakka dishes, including stir fries.

In Hunan, suancai is frequently made with ginger and chilies (typical of Hunan cuisine).

In Cantonese cuisine, it is served in a small dish, often as an appetizer, and usually free. Sometimes it can be available in mini containers on the dining table. There are also Cantonese variations such as salted suancai (鹹酸菜).

In Northeastern Chinese cuisine, suancai is made from napa cabbage or head cabbage and has a taste similar to sauerkraut. As part of the cuisine in Manchuria, it is used with dumplings and boiled, or stir fried. More frequently, suancai is used to make suancai and pork stew.

In hot pot cuisine, it is often one of the ingredients.

In Sichuan cuisine, the dish suancai yu uses suancai. This dish is served in a broth.

Suancai has also been incorporated into Thai cuisine, where it is known as phak kat dong (ผักกาดดอง) when only the upper stem and leaf are used'. Most often used in Thai Chinese dishes, it can also be served as an ingredient in a Thai salad, or as a condiment such as with khao soi, a northern Thai curry noodle soup. The chopped sour leaf and upper stem is combined with scrambled egg in the dish pak khat dong pat kai. When the dish includes only the main stem and tuber of the cabbage (in the style of zha cai), it is called chee chuan chai in Thai.

Pickled mustard or dưa cải chua is a traditional staple in northern Vietnamese cuisine, using green mustard instead of Chinese cabbage. It is used as a side relish or in dishes such as thịt kho dưa cải (braised pork and pickled mustard), canh cải chua (sour mustard soup) and cơm rang dưa bò (fried rice with beef and pickles).

Suancai is similar to a fermented cabbage dish, sauerkraut, which is common in the cuisines of Central and Eastern Europe.

A popular sitcom and namesake song depicting lives in Northeast China, entitled Cui Hua Shang Suancai (翠花, 上酸菜, ) debuted in 2001, and the phrase Cui Hua Shang Suancai became a popular catch phrase. Cui Hua became synonymous with a person from Northeast China. A company in China registered "Cui Hua" brand packaged suancai. In Vietnam called this traditional dish is "dưa cải muối" derived form the Chinese suan cai. Dưa cải muối often eaten directly or stir fried with meat (pork, beef, seafood) or cooked in soup.