All of mine did bolt too. but still tasty and edible.
Good in salads.

I put out transplants here in zone 7 in March and now they are bolting, after some growth but not near forming actual cabbagey heads yet. I am learning that Chinese cabbage is a much earlier/cooler crop than I had thought--so may not try to repeat it again OR may need to focus on fall. I have trouble getting seeds going well in very early spring, and the stores don't have transplants that early.

Anyway, I was assuming I should go ahead and harvest the bolting plants now and use in salad or stir-fry? Clearly they won't be making actual heads at this point, but leaves are still good and I don't want to lose all.

I recently read that the asian cultivars of the brasica family respond to the lengthening daylight by bolting and are best suited to fall with shortening days.

I can't remember where I read this.....maybe elliot coleman? I'll try to find the source when I'm at home...

Plant Chinese cabbage in summer or early fall to avoid bolting. If plant in spring, Chinese cabbage almost always bolts.

For several years i've grown a smallish chinese cabbage called "Optiko", it has been very bolt resistant even in N.IN summers, though it will sometimes split if there's excessive rain. I get it from Pinetree Garden Seeds.

Here is a link that might be useful: pinetree asian veggie page

Thanks chaff I will plant Pock Choi with my summer planting of Wakefield head cabbage this year and see how it grows. I am harvesting cuttings now from spring transplants. No bolting yet, but the trimming might be stopping them from sending up seed heads.

Curt~

Thanks for the replies. I'd almost forgotten this posting -sorry. We have had some very "unusual" weather for our normally arid climate - so it's difficult to separate what's normal for this time of year - lots of rain, colder than usual temps (and some rather earth-shaking (sorry for the pun) quakings going on here in this part of the country.

I did like the one Chinese cabbage that I had which headed up nicely - and crunch and flavor was exceptional. So, I definitely will plant some this summer. Our summer months are usually cool anyway, so that sounds like a great time to plant this beauty.

Bejay

I planted Chainese Cabbage last year the second week of May and had excellant results, firm well formed heads. We used it as lettuce it was so good.

I think my bok choi bolted in early Feb. Maybe sooner. They were tiny, tiny sprouts one day, the next they were tall and flowered. Never ate anything from them except some very tiny sprouts on salad.
Thanks for the tip to plant late summer. I'm trying that with cabbage and broccoli too as didn't have any production planting 1 november with them either.