Chef Liu Chong slices pickled mustard tuber as he prepares a dish at a restaurant in Chongqing, March 22, 2019. [Photo/Xinhua]

The pickles have actually helped generate an entire industry in Fuling. Statistics show more than 60,000 local farmers are involved in planting stem mustard. In 2017, 1.6 million tons of stem mustard were produced, which yielded over 9 billion yuan ($1.3 billion) in pickle products.

The production process remains simple. Farmers first harvest stem mustard, the raw material for the pickle, before dehydrating, salting and then fermenting it in jars.