Bok choy

Other than the term "Chinese cabbage", the most widely used name in North America for the chinensis variety is bok choy (Cantonese for "white vegetable") or siu bok choy (Cantonese, for "small white vegetable", as opposed to dai bok choy meaning "big white vegetable", referring to the larger napa cabbage). It is also sometimes spelled as pak choi, bok choi, and pak choy. In the UK, South Africa, and the Caribbean the term pak choi is used. Less commonly, the names Chinese chard, Chinese mustard, celery mustard, and spoon cabbage are also used. There are two main types of bok choy, collectively called xiǎo bái cài ("small white vegetable") in Mandarin. One is white bok choy () with dark green blades and white stalks, which is primarily cultivated in South China, and in Cantonese it is simply called baak choi (; the same characters pronounced bái cài by Mandarin speakers are preferably used for napa cabbage). The other is green bok choy (; ; ; ; ) with light green stalks, which is more common in East China; the young and tender plants of green bok choy is called baby bok choy (), which is less crisp and therefore may become too soft if overcooked. In Australia, the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries has redefined many transcribed names to refer to specific cultivars. They have introduced the word buk choy to refer to white bok choy and redefined pak choy to refer to green bok choy. ==Uses==

Cooking Bok choy cooks in 2 to 3 minutes by steaming, stir-frying, or simmering in water (8 minutes if steamed whole). The leaves cook faster than the stem. It is often used in similar ways to other leafy vegetables such as spinach and cabbage. It can also be eaten raw. It is commonly used in salads. Preserving Dried bok choy is saltier and sweeter. Pickled bok choy remains edible for months. Immature plants have the sweetest, tenderest stems and leaves. ==Nutritional value==

The raw vegetable is 95% water, 2% carbohydrates, 1% protein and less than 1% fat. In a reference serving, raw bok choy provides 54 kilojoules (13 food calories) of food energy and is a rich source (20% or more of the Daily Value, DV) of vitamin A (30% DV), vitamin C (54% DV) and vitamin K (44% DV), while providing folate, vitamin B6 and calcium in moderate amounts (10–17% DV). ==History==

Bok choy evolved from the mustard plant in China, where it has been cultivated since the 5th century CE. It also has been traced to the Yellow River Valley where archaeologists found Chinese cabbage seeds dating back 6,000 years. As bok choy grew in use, it spread to other parts of Asia and was eventually cultivated in countries such as Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Bok choy plantations were present in Japan and Malaya by the early 19th century. In Malaya, bok choy was not commonly consumed by the poor. The vegetable was introduced to Europe in the mid-18th century. A Swede named Osbeck brought bok choy seeds to Europe during the same time period Jesuit missionaries brought similar strains of the vegetable to German scientists working in Russia. Bok choy was introduced to North America in the 19th century, but did not gain in use for another century. ==Gallery==

File:Young Bok Choy in garden.jpg|Young bok choy plants in a garden File:Bok Choy.JPG|A bok choy field File:Bokchoy.jpg|White bok choy File:Baby Pak Choi (01).JPG|Green bok choy File:Pak-ch.jpg|Bok choy plant from a side view File:Bokchoy flower.jpg|Bok choy has yellow flowers. File:Sun-dried bok choy.jpg|White bok choy laid on the ground after sun-drying ==See also==