Napa/Napa Cabbage/Celery Cabbage

HOW TO PICK FRESH NAPA

LOOK FOR THESE:

• Fresh and healthy yellow color on the leaves (The most yellow the leaves are, the more mature the napa will be, which means more of that delicate sweet flavor.)
• Free of soft or brown spots
• Fresh looking stems that have a translucent white throughout
• Heavy for its size

AVOID THESE:

• With tiny holes that go through many layers of leaves
• Wilting stems (Wilting napa stems have a more solid white color than a fresh translucent stem, and with the top skin start to wrinkle.)
• Browning leaves
• Too loosely packed leaves

HOW TO STORE FRESH NAPA

IN THE FRIDGE: Always air dry the fresh napa if they have too much moisture on the leaves. This will prevent the napa from rotting too fast. Once air dried, DO NOT peel off the outmost leaves. Those outmost leaves can keep the inner, younger leaves protected.
Then, you can simply leave the whole napa in the crisper drawer, and it should last for about 7 days.

FUN TO KNOW ABOUT NAPA
Napa, when translated in Chinese, it is 黃芽白 in Cantonese, and 大白菜 in Mandarin. 黃 means yellow. 芽 means tip or sprout. 白 means white. 大 means big. 白 means white. 菜 means vegetable.

When steaming salty dough buns, napa leaves can be used to line the steamer to avoid the buns sticking to the steamer. If you don't have napa handy, lettuce leaves can be used as well.