Eat Wisely With the Seasonal Calendar: Best Vegetables for Daxue

Although we have not yet seen Beijing being covered in beautiful silver this winter, tomorrow marks the beginning of daxue 大雪, the “Heavy Snow” in the Chinese seasonal calendar.

Daxue is one of the agricultural "solar terms" based on climate and astrology which divide a year into 24 periods, allowing farmers to plant and harvest accordingly. As its name indicates, daxue indicates up-coming heavy snowfall, and most of the country will soon fall below 0°C. This 15-day period was very important to farmers in the past because the nitrogen in the snow is essential for the next year’s harvest.

 

Although modern agriculture relies less on solar terms, chefs and nutritionists still use them as a reference to select the best seasonal bites. The following are some of the top vegetables for this period and some of the dishes you can order at restaurants over the next 15 days.

In the past, the arrival of winter in the capital meant one thing to all Beijingers: storing up cabbage. It is the only vegetable that could sustain the coldness of the whole winter. Housewives all had to learn how to cook and preserve cabbage, and you will lose count trying to list the different ways of preparing the vegetable. The high levels of vitamin C and E in cabbage can also protect our skin from the dehydration brought about by a dry winter. Next time you’re at a restaurant, why not try ordering tangcu baicai (sour and sweet fried cabbage糖醋白菜), baicai zhurou shuijiao (cabbage and pork dumplings 猪肉白菜水饺) or baicai dundoufu (cabbage and tofu stew白菜炖豆腐).