Pixian Bean Paste
Pixian bean paste is a fermented condiment made from broad beans, chili peppers, wheat flour and salt, aged in open vats for a year or longer. It is the defining seasoning of Sichuan cooking, and the name refers to a protected origin, the Pixian district of Chengdu, whose climate and traditional vat ageing practice the product is tied to.
Two separately fermented streams make it up. Split broad beans are inoculated with Aspergillus and grown into a koji, then held under brine, during which fungal and bacterial proteases break the bean protein down into peptides and free amino acids. Salted chili mash is prepared in parallel from red chilies packed under salt. The two are combined and aged together, and the long open vat period is where the character develops: amino acids and reducing sugars react slowly to give the deep red brown colour, esters and alcohols build up from yeast activity, and the raw pepper note softens.
The finished paste is a thick, oily, deep red brown mass with visible bean and chili fragments, salty and moderately pungent with a marked savoury depth. Salt content of around fifteen percent and a low pH make it stable at ambient temperature.
We source bulk Pixian Bean Paste from top China manufacturers for our partners. The manufacturers are in Sichuan and Xinjiang. A smaller requirement can ship in a combined container with other ingredients.
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- Function
- Flavours and Aromas
Specifications
| Item | Specification |
|---|---|
| Appearance | Deep red brown viscous paste with visible bean and chili fragments |
| Odour and Taste | Characteristic fermented bean and chili, salty and savoury, no mouldy note |
| Moisture | Not more than 55.0% |
| Sodium Chloride | 12.0 to 18.0% |
| Amino Acid Nitrogen | Not less than 0.20 g per 100 g |
| Total Acidity, as Lactic Acid | Not more than 2.0% |
| pH | 4.5 to 5.5 |
| Capsaicin Content | Not less than 0.01% |
| Aflatoxin B1 | Not more than 5 ug/kg |
| Lead | Not more than 1.0 mg/kg |
| Arsenic | Not more than 0.5 mg/kg |
| Total Plate Count | Not more than 10,000 cfu/g |
| Yeast and Mould | Not more than 100 cfu/g |
| Salmonella | Absent in 25 g |
Common Markets Grades
Grades are quoted principally by ageing time, which is the axis buyers pay for. One year paste is the standard commercial article, while two, three and five year pastes are darker, less pungent and more savoury, with a rounder aroma and a higher amino nitrogen figure. Very long aged material is sold in small volume for finishing rather than for bulk cooking.
Beyond age, the trade distinguishes coarse traditional pastes that keep whole bean halves and chili flakes from milled pastes ground to a smooth texture for industrial dosing. Red oil grades carry added vegetable oil and are used where the paste is fried out. Reduced salt and additive free grades are produced for buyers who want a clean declaration, and grades intended for hot pot base manufacture are specified on colour and pungency rather than on amino nitrogen.
Applications
- Mapo tofu and other Sichuan braises, where the paste is fried in oil to release colour and aroma before liquid is added
- Hot pot base manufacture, as one of the principal savoury components alongside chili and Sichuan pepper
- Twice cooked pork and dry fried dishes, contributing salt, umami and colour in a single ingredient
- Fish flavoured dishes, where the fermented bean character is the basis of the profile
- Prepared sauce and seasoning manufacture, as the fermented base of retail cooking sauces
- Central kitchen and ready meal production, standardising the Sichuan profile across sites
- Marinades and rubs for pork, beef and offal, where the proteases and acids also assist tenderisation
- Noodle sauces and dipping sauces in the spicy savoury direction
- Snack seasoning bases, after drying and milling of the paste solids
China Manufacturers of Pixian Bean Paste
Top Pixian Bean Paste manufacturers in China.
Sichuan Litong Food Co., Ltd.5 ingredients in the directory- Xinjiang Pujiwo Garden Food Technology Co., Ltd.5 ingredients in the directory
Company names and logos are the property of the manufacturers themselves. They are listed here because our own directory records them as producing this ingredient. A listing is not an endorsement by them, and we do not represent them or speak on their behalf.
Regulatory Status
Fermented bean paste is a food rather than a food additive, so no E number applies to the product itself, though any preservative, colour or thickener added to a commercial grade is a regulated additive and must be declared. In the European Union the relevant controls are general food hygiene law, the contaminant limits that apply to processed vegetable and cereal products, and the mycotoxin limits that follow from the use of dried chili and of a mould fermentation. Aflatoxin is the mycotoxin of practical concern, and reputable production controls it through the choice of a non toxigenic Aspergillus oryzae culture and through raw material screening.
In the United States the paste is an imported processed food subject to preventive controls, with a filed process where it is sold shelf stable, and its acidity and salt content are the parameters that establish that stability. Wheat flour in the formulation makes a gluten declaration necessary, and soya is declared where soya beans are used alongside or in place of broad beans. Codex maintains standards for fermented soybean and related bean pastes that cover composition, hygiene and permitted additives, and the origin designation itself is protected under Chinese geographical indication law rather than under food safety law.
Manufacturing Process
Broad beans are soaked, dehulled and split, then steamed and cooled to the temperature at which the koji culture will grow. They are mixed with wheat flour, inoculated with Aspergillus oryzae, and spread on trays or in a ventilated koji room for two to three days, during which the mould covers the beans and secretes the proteases and amylases that will later break them down. The mature koji is transferred into vats with brine and held for several months, so that the enzymes work on the bean protein and starch and a salt tolerant yeast and lactic flora establish themselves.
Chili peppers are handled separately, chopped and packed under salt in sealed tanks where they ferment and store as a salted mash. After the bean stage has matured the two are combined in open ceramic or concrete vats and aged in the traditional manner, exposed to the sun by day and the night air by cover removal, and turned regularly by hand or by mechanical rake so that the mass ferments evenly and moisture is driven off. Ageing runs from one to several years. The finished paste is milled to the specified texture, blended with oil where the grade calls for it, pasteurised or hot filled, and packed into jars, pails or drums.
