pao cai mu shui — MikrobenKabinett

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MikrobenKabinett is what I call my fermentation cabinet — a bubbling, living archive.

Here I keep a growing collection of starter cultures that I’ve collected, nurtured, traded, or purchased over the years, along with several ongoing jarred fermentation experiments.

This page is a digital duplicate of the cabinet at home. It serves both as a record of each “member” in the Kabinett, and as a practical manual: If you’ve ever received a culture from me in real life, you’ll likely find its basic ratios and reference recipes here — to help you start your own fermentation journey!

Welcome to explore！
Xijing Xu
info@xijingxu.com
https://xijingxu.com
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Pào Cài Mū Shuǐ
泡菜母水

Based on its meaning, it can probably be translated into English as follows:
'Mother Water of Pickles’

I started this batch 08. 2023 in Berlin. This year (2025) when I was back in Changsha, China, my hometown, I got a 20 years old batch from a friend of my grandma and added it to mine batch.

Terminolodgy

Pao Cai means ‘pickles’ in Mandarin.

Lao Tan Pao Cai (老坛泡菜) means ‘pickles from an old jar’.
It refers to a jar that usually starts with a batch of vegetables lacto-fermented in around 7% salt brine, and is then constantly fed with fresh vegetables over time.

Pao Cai Mu Shui (泡菜母水) is the brine from such a permanent jar, which contains a lot of active lactic acid bacteria. You can add the brine to your regular lacto fermentation to accelerate the process, or to start your own Lao Tan Pao Cai from scratch.

Once you have a Lao Tan Pao Cai, you can simply toss fresh vegetables into the jar and take them out the next day — this is called Tiao Shui Pao Cai (跳水泡菜), ‘diving pickles’.

Start a Lao Tan Pao Cai from scratch

1

Prepare a jar of at least 1liter capacity.

2

Prepare a mix of fresh vegetables
including some aromatic roots and spices such as garlic, celery, chili, ginger, radish, etc.
Place them into the jar.

3

Layering of the veggies in the jar
Put garlic and ginger at the bottom — they can stay in the jar much longer. Then add chili and celery, followed by root vegetables.

4

Pour water into the jar
until it reaches about 90% full.
Then pour the water back out into a bowl, stir in a spoonful of salt, and pour the brine back into the jar.

5

Finish by covering the top with a cabbage leaf
and placing a weight on top to keep everything submerged.

6

Optional
Add 1–2 spoonfuls of your favorite high-proof alcohol to boost the flavor.

7

Lactofermentation is anaerobic, so seal the jar tightly to keep oxygen out!

8

Observe daily — if bubbles start to appear, fermentation has begun. It should be ready in about 7 days at a room temperature

9

Once it's ready, you can start removing some of the top vegetables and replacing them with fresh ones.
Each time you add new vegetables, don’t forget to add the equivalent amount of salt to maintain the balance!

Veggies prepared for the Jar.

Chilis and read radishes are giving the water a nice color

Old brine taste better

Adding a batch from an older jar can not only speed up the fermentation, but also deepen the flavor.

My jar started tasting so much more delicious after a full year of feeding and care.

Recently, I received a 20-year-old batch from a friend of my grandmother’s and added it to my jar.
The smell of the pickles became far more intense and complex than ever before — now it brings me so much joy just to open the jar each time!

Photo of the 20-year-old jar from my grandma’s friend
— a traditional form used for storing pickles.