Sichuan-style pickles are unique from the pickles produced in other parts of China.
However, after taking China’s Dragon Boat Festival to the UN and getting it listed as their own intangible cultural heritage, South Koreans now turn to China’s tangible cultural heritage, and present Sichuan Pickle Jar (四川泡菜坛) in the World Cup as part of their traditional pickle culture.
According to Mr Tu, an Agricultural Inspector from Sichuan Province, the vegetable pickles of Sichuan taste distinctively different from the pickles anywhere else in the world, which is extremely spicy and crisp. The special quality of the Sichuan pickles is largely attributed to the special pickle jars that the people of Sichuan invented thousands of years ago. The well-concealed jar effectively insulates the content in the container from the air which helps produce lactic acid bacteria to transform sugar into lactic acid during the fermentation process.
The conventional South Korean pickles, on the other hand, are processed in pans or pots and covered by heavy stones, thus exposed to air.