Salted cabbage
Traditionally, when people make salted cabbage, they make ten, twenty kilos or more at a time and they pack it into barrels. I've adapted the recipe to use smaller amounts of ingredients and jars for storage. It's still a large scale undertaking. When Sveta and I did it, we cleaned the lino floor in the kitchen and did everything on the floor. We filled a load of jars and they would probably have lasted all winter, but we went away for a few weeks and there was a small earthquake. A lot of the jars fell off the shelf on the balcony where we had left them. We had a stinky balcony for a while after that.
This is the most basic recipe. People sometimes add chopped apple, or some cranberries and occasionally spices such as caraway, anise or dill seed. I think it's better to add things later when you use the salted cabbage to make salads. That way you can vary the ingredients each time.
Ingredients
5kg of white cabbage
100g of carrots
120g of salt
Cut the cabbages into large pieces, leaving out the central stalks. Slice the pieces so that you have small strips a couple of millimetres thick. This takes a while. Grate the carrots and mix with the cabbage and salt. Scrunch the mixture with your hands so that everything gets well bruised. If you're good at milking goats, you'll be good at this. Pack the mixture tightly into clean jars and put the lids on, but not tight. After a couple of days at room temperature, the cabbage will ferment and release gas. The fermentation should take about a week to 10 days, then the bubbles will stop. That's the time to screw the lids on tightly. You can start eating the cabbage after fermentation stops but it will keep for about six months in a cool place. It's lovely with chopped onion and a little vegetable oil, or try making vinaigrette salad. You can also fry it with potatoes.