This was one of the last blog posts I did in the “before times.” It’s coming up on this time of year again, so I thought it’d be a fun repost. This year the Laba festival happens next week on January 18th. Please enjoy this repost, and enjoy the recipe if you make it!
Drinking tea with Master Wang, our regular pre- and post- training ritual.
Anyone reading this blog knows that seasonal foods are a big thing in China. Actually, seasonal foods are a big thing in all cultures except for the modern west where we can have anything we want at any time of year. Today I thought I’d talk about a simple and delicious traditional side dish.
Most weeks I visit with my Taiji and Bagua Shifu 師父, Wang Fengming, and we train together. Last week after training I stayed for dinner and had my first experience with cold season blue garlic that was made by my Shimu 師母, Mrs. Feng (she is one of Grandmaster Feng Zhiqiang’s daughters).
I had never seen this food before, but it is commonly made in the north of China during the cold season. It is a type of pickled garlic that actually turns bluish (see the photo below), and in Chinese is known as Laba Garlic (là bā suàn 臘八蒜). Laba is a traditional holiday on the 8th day of the 12th lunar month, celebrating the date of the Buddha’s enlightenment. Being in the 12th lunar month it usually falls around the Minor or Major Cold Seasonal Nodes, in other words, one of the most Yin times of the year.
As a food, garlic is quite warming. Its flavor is acrid and sweet, representing the dual functions of being able to move and supplement Qi. It has a Spleen and Stomach strengthening and warming effect, and it moves stagnation to aid the digestive process. The time we are in now is a transition between Winter and Spring (which starts in less than a month from now), and the transition times are associated with the Soil/Earth phase – thus the Spleen and Stomach. However, the weather is clearly still cold, with the exception of the unseasonal warmer temperatures predicted in New Jersey this weekend. Our general dietary strategy this time of year therefore should be to warm and protect the Spleen and Stomach. We can also do this with acupuncture, moxibustion, or herbs as I’ve described in other posts recently.
Raw garlic is too harsh for most people to want to eat. Cold Season Garlic is a type of pickled food that becomes mild enough to be eaten as a side dish, often traditionally with dumplings. The vinegar used to make it can also be eaten on dumplings, or just about anything else that uses vinegar.
Finished Cold Season Garlic with some of its pickling vinegar.
To make, start by taking a desired amount of garlic, and separate and peel to cloves. Place in a clean jar and simply cover the garlic with good quality aged Chinese vinegar (some recipes add sugar, but it is unnecessary). Let sit either at room temperature or in a refrigerator for at least 3 days, although longer storage in the garlic is fine. Within several days the garlic will start turning blue-green, and after that it can be eaten at any time. And the flavor is fantastic! Use as a side dish to dumplings, meats, any type of vegetable, or with morning congee.
I’ll be blogging about the Major Cold Seasonal node sometime soon.