Doubanjiang Craft (Pixian Broad-Bean Paste)

The traditional craft of Pixian broad-bean paste is practiced around Pixian (now Pidu district) in Chengdu; said to date from the early Qing, it ferments broad beans and chilies into a paste whose product, Pixian doubanjiang, is hailed as the "soul of Sichuan cuisine."

Broad beans are cultured into fermented paste and salted chilies aged separately, then combined and turned through long "sun by day, dew by night" aging, stirred and matured over months or even years of natural fermentation to yield a red-brown, mellow, spicy-yet-fragrant paste, the whole relying on hand labor and the seasons.

Pixian paste is the key base for the mala flavor and red-oil color of Sichuan cuisine, lending aroma and hue to dishes like mapo tofu and twice-cooked pork; it entered the second national intangible-heritage list in 2008 and is a core technique of Sichuan seasoning culture.

The traditional drying yards and vat-turning of Pixian paste can be seen in workshops and museums of Pidu district, where rows of aging vats and the turning of the paste carry a strong local character.