Source · producer

Pixian doubanjiang producer

Pi County, Chengdu, Sichuan, CN

Placeholder producer entry — Pixian doubanjiang is a fermented paste of broad beans (*fava*), chili peppers, and salt, aged in open clay urns under cloth covers, weather-cycled for one to three years. The standard product cures one year; *teji* (premium) grades go three. Sichuan cooks judge a doubanjiang the way Italians judge olive oil — by the colour, the gloss, the bean-vs-chili ratio, and the bite.

The single ingredient that defines Sichuan cooking. Mapo tofu, huiguorou (twice-cooked pork), mala chuan’r — all of them start by frying doubanjiang in oil until the oil turns red. Without it, the cooking school is unrecognisable. The Pixian producers are protected by a regional designation similar to a European DOP, and the difference between an aged Pixian and a generic supermarket “chili bean paste” is the difference between a coq au vin with Burgundy and one with cooking wine.