Fuling pickled mustard, a specialty of Chongqing, is a Chinese geographical indication certification trademark. Fuling pickled mustard is a fresh and crispy flavored product made from green cabbage heads grown in the special soil and climatic conditions of Fuling District, Chongqing through a unique processing technology.

It is one of the three most famous pickles in the world along with French sour cucumber and German sweet and sour cabbage. It is also one of the three most famous vegetables exported by China (mustard, mustard, and bamboo shoots). Its traditional production techniques were included in the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage lists.

I was born in Fuling, and I have a lot of affection for and understanding of Fuling mustard. The peak development of traditional Fuling mustard was in the 1970s. At that time, there were no less than 20 state-owned mustard factories scattered throughout Fuling County along 30 kilometers of the Yangtze River. In winter, as an important source of income, local people grow green cabbage heads at home.

Except for leaving a very small part to make pickles themselves, they sell them to mustard factories at a price of 2 to 3 cents per catty. , each state-owned mustard factory builds many air-dried vegetable racks along the bank of the Yangtze River. The racks are fixed at the top by two logs to form a herringbone unit. The tops are connected in series with thick hemp ropes, and the two ends are fixed to the ground and stand on the river. On the beach, the spacing between the left and right herringbone units is 7 to 8 meters, and layers of bamboo ropes are wrapped between the logs from top to bottom. The height of the herringbone frame is 5 to 6 meters, and the bottom width is about 4 meters. The length of the entire three-dimensional frame is good. Several hundred meters, dozens or hundreds of shelf groups stretch for several kilometers, which is a spectacular sight.

The mustard factory employs local people for processing: first, peel off the old tendons from the purchased green cabbage heads, cut the big ones into two, and string them into strings with 2-meter-long bamboo silk, and you will be paid 1 cent for each string. The money is put on a shelf to dry (the flow of river water drives the air flow, referred to as Jiangfeng). After about 20 days, 50 to 60% of the moisture is removed, then it is taken off the shelf and shredded, put into a pond, salted and fermented for a month. , carry out secondary dehydration,

remove about 20% of the water, fish it out, hire someone to remove the tendons, put in red finely powdered chili powder, put it in a jar and compact it, seal it with cement and carry out secondary fermentation for three months. It can then be exported for consumption. In order to obtain better flavor, some use the naturally stable low-temperature environment to directly sink the jars into the water for long-term fermentation and preservation.

Every local family makes their own products, so the sales volume is not much. Most of them are sold by river ships to all parts of the country or exported abroad. The salted water is precious. Add ginger, pepper, aniseed, dried tangerine peel, cinnamon and other seasonings to make the mustard soy sauce. Its delicious taste cannot be matched by even the top-grade soybean soy sauce. Currently, due to the simplification of the production process, pure mustard soy sauce is almost Extinct.

In the 1980s, with the reform and opening up and the introduction of market economy, state-owned mustard factories were successively acquired or closed down by private parties. Private mustard factories sprouted everywhere. Zhejiang, which has a strong sense of market economy in coastal areas, also came to grab this cake. , taking advantage of Fuling’s unique geographical and climatic conditions along both sides of the Yangtze River for dozens of kilometers, the green cabbage heads (specialty) produced were transported long-distance to Yuyao, Zhejiang for processing mustard. Zhejiang “mustard” was born. In order to reduce costs and maximize profits, they simplified the process, The most time-consuming, laborious and expensive process is to remove the air-drying and dehydration one by one, directly add salt, pickle and dehydrate, then cut into shreds, add spices and additives, and sell in small packages. This kind of mustard has no natural fragrance and tastes sour, as if it has been cooked. It seems chewy and no different from ordinary pickles, so I put quotation marks around Zhejiang "pickled mustard". Ten years of competition between Chongqing and Zhejiang for vegetables

Small vegetables have triggered a 10-year dispute between Chongqing and Zhejiang. Fuling, Chongqing and Yuyao, Zhejiang are the two major brands in the domestic mustard market. In 1995, the Chinese Agricultural Society and other departments jointly organized the "development, construction, and promotion" activities of the hometown of specialty products. Both Fu-style mustard and Zhejiang-style mustard began to compete for the title of “China’s Hometown of Mustard”.

In 1998, Fuling mustard applied for trademark registration to the Trademark Office of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce and obtained a trademark registration certificate, which was valid from April 21, 2000 to April 20, 2010. Fuling mustard has successfully obtained the rights to protect its origin, raw materials, manufacturing methods, quality, and product trademarks. With this trump card, Fuling mustard has occupied more than 70% of the domestic mustard market at a price 20% higher than the market price.

In August 2003, Yuyao, Zhejiang Province took advantage of the opportunity to apply for a place of origin mark, once again provoking a competition between the two places over the origin of mustard mustard. In early September, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine announced that Zhejiang Yuyao mustard applied for origin protection to the State Administration of Quality Supervision, and passed the formal review and on-site inspection, starting a three-month public announcement.

Yuyao's first move made Fuling unable to sit still. In early September 2003, Fuling applied for origin protection to the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, which was accepted by the state. In November of that year, Fuling went to Chongqing for on-site investigation.

It is reported that although Zhejiang said that the planting area of ??Yuyao mustard reaches 100,000 acres, the annual output of fresh mustard is 500 million kilograms, and the annual processing output value reaches 1 billion yuan. However, Fuling stated in its objection letter that Zhejiang's climate and soil are increasingly unsuitable for the growth of mustard raw materials, and its producers often go to Fuling to purchase raw materials. It is conservatively estimated that at least 150,000 tons of mustard heads produced in Chongqing flow to Zhejiang in a year. At the same time, Yuyao switched to the salt dehydration process to make products (Fuling uses the air-drying process). The production cycle is too short, only taking a few months, and does not meet the standards of the origin.

Fuling pickled mustard expands market and exports. In the future, all WTO member countries will conduct random inspections of imported "Fuling mustard" based on this standard.

Whether it is Chongqing Fuling mustard or Zhejiang Yuyao mustard, as long as Chinese mustard goes out of the country and strives for honor for the country, it is a good mustard!