Palate-cleansing pickles

The main spice used here is the Sichuan peppercorn, which is not a pepper at all, but the dried fruit pods of the native prickly ash. It is so spicy that it has almost anesthetic properties.

Blanched chicken claws are a delicacy dropped into the pickle pots with small fiery chili peppers, crisp carrot and radish sticks and plenty of salt and sugar. They may not appeal to Western palates, but they are a favorite snack for many Chinese, easily available even in convenience stores all over the country.

Further south, in Yunnan, the appetites of ethnic minorities in the province are whetted by a kaleidoscope of pickles that may range from finely sliced gingers, bulbs of leeks, tender roots of bellflowers to broad beans and soya beans.

The colorful platters appear as side dishes on the dining table and are enjoyed with the staple rice noodles and pancakes, also made with rice flour. Again, they are bright red with powdered or crushed chili peppers.

Another popular pickle ingredient is the white Chinese radish. They are salted and dried whole, cut into batons and dried, or roughly minced and pickled.

These radishes are popular in a swathe of provinces ranging from Guangdong and Guangxi, Hubei and Hunan right across to Hebei and Henan, and are used to supplement stir-fries or soups, or used as tasty side dishes.

Spicy mustard green, a normally bitter-tasting vegetable when it is fresh, is preserved in brine all across south and central China to produce more regional specialties. It is seldom eaten on its own, but has become a seasoning ingredient that has spawned many famous dishes.

In the Hakka communities in Fujian and Guangdong provinces, a dried, sweet version is steamed slowly with pork belly to produce the signature meicai kourou.

Elsewhere, a tart pickled cabbage is cooked with fish to produce another famous dish-suan cai yu.