How to salt cabbage

Not every young housewife knows about how to salt cabbage for the winter. But half a century ago cabbage was fermented, salted and pickled whole barrelsto feed your family with cabbage soup, dumplings and pies with healthy and crispy filling until spring. Salted cabbage retains almost all the vitamins and microelements that are also found in fresh cabbage. It is not surprising that they continue to pickle cabbage in our time, because it is very healthy, aromatic and tasty.

About, how to pickle cabbage for the winter, how to choose the right heads of cabbage and spices, as well as some secrets of pickling and salting cabbage, you can learn from this article.

Pickling cabbage for the winter: preparation

The salting process is quite simple, but there are some tricks and features that a good housewife should know:

1. First of all, you need to distinguish pickled cabbage from salted or pickled cabbage. How saltier will it be? brine, the faster the product will cook, and the longer it can be stored in its finished form. During the process of pickling or fermentation, foods ferment more strongly and more carbon dioxide is released. These recipes require less salt; complete preparation may take about two weeks. Salted cabbage will be ready in a few days.During the cooking process, carbon dioxide will also be produced, but in smaller quantities. Thanks to the large amount of salt, bacteria and microorganisms will not be able to exist in the brine - the product will be stored for a long time.
   
2. The taste of salted cabbage is in no way inferior to sauerkraut - it is the same crispy, with a sweet and sour taste and excellent aroma. To make the cabbage even juicier and crispier, experienced housewives do this: half the head of cabbage is chopped finely, and the second part is chopped into larger pieces. As a result, small straws release juice, which is necessary for brine, and large pieces provide crispness.
3. To pickle cabbage for the winter, choose large, tight heads of white color. Late varieties of vegetables are most suitable for such purposes.. The upper green leaves from the heads of cabbage must be removed. You need to choose the product for pickling very carefully: the head of cabbage should be elastic, but not hard (Chinese varieties of white cabbage often suffer from this).
4. You can cut the heads of cabbage with a knife, special shredders, or use food processors and other devices. Main, so that most of the head of cabbage is chopped into small strips – they are the ones who will give the juice, because cabbage must be fermented in its own juice.
5. To ensure that there is no bitterness in the finished product, it is necessary remove carbon dioxide from brine daily. To do this, the cabbage mass is pierced in several places with a narrow knife or wooden stick.
6. After cooking, the cabbage is compacted tightly and pressed with something heavy. This must be done so that the cabbage releases its juice. If the next day the entire product is not covered with brine, you need to replace the press, choosing something heavier.

The most important thing in pickling cabbage for the winter is to remove the press in time and transfer the product to the refrigerator. The finished cabbage should be moderately crunchy, juicy and slightly sour. If the brine ferments, the pickle will become a limp, non-crispy and tasteless mass.

Several ways to pickle cabbage

As already mentioned, pickling cabbage for the winter is a simple matter. You don’t need to be a super chef to do this; you don’t need exotic products for cooking. All you need for the simplest recipe is a head of cabbage, carrots, and spices.

Of course, there are more interesting methods with unusual salting, coloring cabbage with beet juice; some housewives use heads of cauliflower rather than simple heads of cabbage for pickling. This is all a matter of taste; there are as many opinions as there are chefs. To choose the best recipe, you will have to try at least a few.

Traditional recipe for pickling cabbage

This is exactly the way our grandmothers salted cabbage vegetables. The finished product can be used as a filling for pies or dumplings, added to cabbage soup, or eaten as an independent dish.

To prepare you will need:

• 2 medium-sized heads of cabbage;
• 6-7 medium carrots;
• 4-5 tablespoons of salt.

Experts recommend using Himalayan salt for salting, which can also be replaced with extra-coarsely ground gray rock salt. Before preparing the brine, this salt must be ground with a manual or electric coffee grinder.

The entire cooking process consists of several steps:

1. Wash the carrots, peel and grate on a coarse grater.
2. Wash the cabbage too, remove the top leaves from the heads. First, chop half of one head of cabbage into small strips. The second half of the head of cabbage is cut into larger pieces. You can leave a few leaves uncut; they will delay the acidification process of the brine so that the cabbage turns out crispy.
3. Pour the shredded cabbage into a bowl and knead it with your hands so that it becomes juicy, but still remains crispy - the main thing here is not to overdo it.
4. Now add half the grated carrots and add two tablespoons of salt, mix everything thoroughly with your hands. Place the resulting mixture in a saucepan, compacting it well.
5. Now the same needs to be done with the second head of cabbage. Finally, place the cabbage in the pan and compact it as well. The mass should significantly decrease in volume - this means that the cabbage has been crushed well enough and is releasing juice.
6. Now you need to take a plate, cover the cabbage mass with it and press down with a weight. You can use a three-liter jar of water as a load, for example.
7. Every day the cabbage mass should be pierced in several places so that carbon dioxide escapes and fermentation proceeds faster.
8. If the room is warm, the product will pickle in 2-3 days; at a cooler temperature it will take about five days. When the product is ready, you can transfer it to glass jars and put it in the refrigerator. You should not fill the jars to the top; the cabbage may still continue to ferment and the juice will spill over the edge of the container.

You can eat pickles the very next day. In the refrigerator, salted cabbage can stand all winter without losing its crispness and aroma.

Cabbage for the winter with dill seeds

Cabbage made according to this recipe has a strong spicy aroma and a special crunchiness. And also The “trick” of the recipe is the special cutting of the product - shredding into long narrow strips, similar to spaghetti.

You need to prepare the following ingredients:

• 2 medium forks white cabbage;
• 3 small carrots;
• 2.5 tablespoons of salt;
• spoon of dried dill seeds.

To prepare this recipe you need to do the following:

1. Wash and peel all ingredients.
2. Cut each head of cabbage into two unequal parts so that the stalk remains in one half.
3. Place half of the fork flat or stand upright and chop into long narrow strips. The area around the stalk should not be cut, the fibers there are too coarse.
4. Place the shredded cabbage in a wide bowl or pan and knead it thoroughly with your hands. Before this you need to add salt.
5. Then pour in the carrots grated on a coarse grater and sprinkle in the dill seeds. Mix everything thoroughly with your hands.
6. The pan with cabbage is covered with a plate and pressed down with a weight. The product should be salted in a cool place with good ventilation. A balcony or veranda is perfect for these purposes.
7. Twice a day it is necessary to remove the load and stir the mass with a spoon to free the brine from excess carbon dioxide.
8. In three days the cabbage will be ready; it can be placed in glass containers. banks and put it in the refrigerator or basement.

How to salt cauliflower

There are so many recipes for pickling white cabbage, but for some reason cauliflower is given much less attention. Completely in vain, because colored varieties are much healthier, and this type of cabbage tastes no worse than white cabbage.

For pickling, choose inflorescences that are white, dense and elastic. If the color of the heads of cabbage is yellowish, it means that they are overripe and are not suitable for pickling. It is recommended to cut the carrots for brine into long strips or grate them on a special grater for Korean carrots - this way the dish will look more beautiful and impressive.

So, you will need the following ingredients:

• colored heads of cabbage - 2 pieces;
• 500 g carrots;
• 5 cloves of garlic;
• a few black peppercorns;
• 4 bay leaves;
• a tablespoon of salt with a mountain;
• half a spoonful of sugar.

The preparation will be as follows:

1. First prepare the brine. To do this, dissolve salt and sugar in a liter of water and bring the brine to a boil. After this it needs to be cooled.
2. The heads of cabbage are divided into small inflorescences and dipped in boiling water for several minutes (blanched).
3. After this, the inflorescences are dipped in cold water so that they cool down and do not lose their crispness. Place in a large saucepan in neat layers.
4. Each layer of cabbage is interspersed with grated carrots, finely chopped garlic, pepper and bay leaves. The bottom and top layers should be carrot.
5. Fill everything with brine and press down with a weight. Cauliflower is salted for 2-3 days in a warm room, after which it is taken out to a cool place (balcony, loggia, veranda).After another couple of days, you can transfer the mixture into jars and put it in the refrigerator for the whole winter.

It is not a shame to treat even the most picky guests with cabbage pickled according to this recipe; it looks like an appetizer or salad and looks very beautiful on the winter table.

Results

Salted cabbage is very beneficial for the body, especially for cold-weakened immunity. The sour product will make up for the lack of enzymes in the intestines, saturate the body with valuable vitamin C, remove bad cholesterol, and restore stomach function with the help of fiber.

So, salt the cabbage that’s right and enjoy this healthy and flavorful snack all winter long! You can learn more about the salting process from this video:

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