Cabbage is a great addition to a wide variety of dishes, so it is not surprising that winter harvests based on it are quite popular among Russian housewives. There are many recipes for preparing such snacks (including those using red-headed vegetables), so it is always worth considering several well-known options.
Ingredient preparation
Any process of pickling, pickling or pickling the harvested crop begins with the preliminary preparation of all the necessary ingredients. When leavening cabbage, cabbage head, carrots, garlic, apples usually act as such components.
Other vegetables and fruits can also be used, but this already depends on the exotic nature of the recipe you have chosen. Of course, all ingredients must undergo pre-treatment, based on washing and removing the upper skin.
This usually applies to garlic, onions, apples, although it is recommended to remove the upper leaves from the head. The remaining components, including greens, can simply be washed, later sliced as required by the recipe.
Dry spices do not need preparation, the main thing is that they fit the expiration dates and are of high quality.
Important! The choice of red cabbage is based on the same rules as buying a white cabbage variety: the vegetable should be elastic, dense, with a characteristic crunch when broken or sliced.
Recipes for harvesting red cabbage for the winter
In the simplest version of creating a delicious sauerkraut for the winter, you do not need any unusual ingredients, because to get a dish, the most red (purple) head, spices and garlic with onions will be enough.
To diversify this classic recipe, apples, carrots and more garlic can be used in preparing the workpiece, and some housewives even add lemon juice. The fastest and at the same time tasty options for creating a fermentation include the following.
Sliced in large pieces in a jar
6.5 kg60 minutes
red cabbage
5 heads (approximately 7 kg)
Nutrition value per 100 g
- Wash the cabbage, dry them slightly and disassemble them into separate leaves.
- Cut each leaf into large pieces.
- Peel, wash and cut the onions in half rings, chop the peeled onions with a knife, and chop the horseradish root with a blender.
- Take a large container and mix in it pieces of cabbage with garlic, onions, horseradish root and dill seeds.
- Salt the mixture a little and crush everything together with your hands.
- Transfer the vegetables prepared in this way into an enameled pan or wooden barrel, lightly tamp and place the yoke on top. You need to ferment the vegetable in a warm place for three days, regularly piercing it with a wooden stick to the very bottom of the pan to let the air out.
- After this time, remove the vegetables, arrange the workpiece in sterilized jars and send for sterilization for 20 minutes (over low heat).
- At the end of the process, all that remains is to close the jars with lids and after the snack has completely cooled down, move it to a warm place.
Did you know? The first description of the process of harvesting and storing cabbage in Russia dates back to 1073, and these actions are mentioned in the most ancient directory of Kievan Rus under the name "Svyatoslav Izbornik".
With carrots and garlic
0.5 kg45 minutes + 7 days
Nutrition value per 100 g
- Wash the vegetables, remove the top sheets from the head, and peel the carrots.
- Chop the cabbage in the usual way, and grate the carrots on a coarse grater.
- Peel and finely chop the garlic (you can grate it on a fine grater), add it to the already prepared ingredients.
- Salt the above ingredients and grind the mixture with your hands until a characteristic crunch of leaves appears (this is necessary so that the vegetable becomes softer and juice appears).
- Prepare cans for preservation by washing and steaming them well (enameled dishes in this case are not the best option).
- Tamp the finished vegetable mixture tightly, leaving at least 2 cm of free space to the surface of the container.
- Substitute a bowl under the jar, squeeze the cabbage on top with a narrow bottle of water and leave it like this for a week in room conditions.
- So that carbon dioxide does not accumulate inside, you have to pierce the workpiece daily with a thin knitting needle or wooden stick (to the full depth).
- After 7 days, remove the load from the cabbage, wipe off the outer part of the container from the juice and close the salad with a tight lid for further home storage. The prepared vegetable mixture should crunch well and can be used to prepare ordinary first and second courses.
Important! In the process of pickling, foam will collect on the surface of the cabbage, which must be removed.
With apples
1,5 kg
cabbage (red cabbage)
1 average head of cabbage
Nutrition value per 100 g
- Wash the heads of cabbage, remove the top leaves and chop the rest of the vegetable.
- Wash and peel the apples, be sure to remove the core and stem.
- Cut the fruits into small strips, and peeled and washed onions into thin rings or half rings.
- Add salt to the chopped cabbage leaves and crush them with your hands, since you need to ferment the vegetables in the juice.
- Put chopped and salted cabbage leaves in a barrel or deep pan, add a layer of apples, onions and dill seeds to them.
- Stir the mixture well and taste: maybe you still need to salt it.
- Press the finished workpiece upside down and place the load on top, leaving the workpiece with oppression for at least 4 days. After this time, you can put the fruit and vegetable mixture in jars and put it in the pantry or cellar. If everything is done correctly, then the result should be a tasty, slightly sweet snack to any second courses.
Storage methods
It is necessary to approach the creation of blanks with all responsibility, but the process of further storage of the finished product deserves no less attention.
The slightest violation of recommendations regarding temperature values in the storehouse or excess of humidity will make sauerkraut not so useful, and some of the vitamins can disappear.
The optimum temperature for such snacks is from + 3 ° C to + 10 ° C, with a relative humidity of 70–80%. Small deviations from these norms are possible, but it is better that they be insignificant.
You can also prepare delicious meals on the basis of frozen sauerkraut, which is especially important for residents of apartments, where it is difficult to find more suitable conditions for whole cans.
True, it is advisable to do this only after a complete defrosting of the vegetable at room conditions, since when placed in boiling water, a significant part of the useful properties of the vegetable may be lost, not to mention the taste data.
In a word, there are many ways to harvest red cabbage for the winter, so whether you decide to pickle it, ferment it or want to pour it with brine, in any case you should get a decent winter harvest, with a pleasant taste and a delicious aroma.
Did you know? In Japan, cabbage is not only eaten, but also grown for decorative purposes, because when the gardens become few ordinary flowering plants, beautiful cabbage heads with a varied color of inner leaves remain on the garden beds.
Moreover, the presented recipes options allow you to create an externally attractive product, which is clearly visible in the above photos.
