THE CHINESE CABBAGES - Growing Chinese Vegetables in Your Own Backyard - page 91

DRIED GREENS
Here's an interesting way to preserve excess pak choy: Make “Choy Gone.” Wash and separate each leaf,
parboil for 5 minutes or until the color changes, drain, separate each leaf, and dry in the sun. Soak leaves
about 2 hours before using, and simmer until tender.
This is a very popular Asian way of using this vegetable; travelers bring back snapshots of lines of
pak choy hung out to dry like some strange kind of washing. If you don't have a clothesline, it's worth
rigging up one for this. You can do it just as easily on an apartment rooftop as in a backyard.
Pick the outside, mature leaves of a pak choy plant.
How to Harvest
Pak choy matures fairly quickly — in about eight weeks — but you don't have to wait
until maturity to enjoy it. In the late summer and fall, gather mature outside leaves; as
long as you don't disturb the heart, the plant will continue to produce more leaves. I
don't recommend this procedure in the spring.
Varieties
Pak choy is a mustard and is often found under that heading. Also search under Chinese
cabbage, Asian greens, or Asian vegetables.