How to quickly and easily prepare cabbage for the winter

Secrets of proper fermentation

One of the methods for preparing cabbage is sometimes referred to as “pickling”, and sometimes as “pickling”. The essence of the process does not change. The surprising thing is that when fermented, the amount of vitamins in cabbage increases. If you follow the correct technology, the amount of vitamin C increases from 30 to 70 mg per 100 g. In addition to vitamins, sauerkraut retains many minerals necessary for health. Find out more, What are the benefits of sauerkraut for the body?, available on our website Make it delicious!.

In order for the fermentation process to go without a hitch, late varieties of cabbage are selected. The forks should be dense and juicy, with white or light green leaves. The shape is slightly flattened. Usually, for 10 kg of cabbage, take 2 kg of fresh carrots and 200-250 g of salt.Iodized salt is never used for pickling. Coarsely ground edible rock salt is best. You can add more carrots, but then the sauerkraut will turn yellow-orange.

First of all, the cabbage must be finely and beautifully chopped. This is easy to do on a wooden board using a thin and sharp kitchen knife. Cabbage of the desired condition is obtained if you use special shredders, graters, hand bread slicers or attachments on a food processor. During this treatment, the stalk and all green leaves are removed from the cabbage. The carrots must be washed, peeled, washed again under running water and grated on a coarse (this is important!) grater. The required amount of salt is poured into a bowl in advance.

Any large container is suitable for such a workpiece. An airtight wooden tub, a large glass jar, and a stainless or enamel pan work well.

Place some cabbage, carrots and salt in the container. Then you have to thoroughly mix the cabbage, carrots and salt, grind them so that the vegetables release some juice. It is convenient to mix by hand. And then the resulting layer of vegetables is carefully compacted with your hands or a wooden masher, which is usually used for kneading mashed potatoes. This is done with force so that the juice is noticeably released in the recesses. When fermenting cabbage, you can add spices - sprigs of dill, as well as currant or laurel leaves. They greatly enhance the taste of the dish.

So, the entire volume of cabbage and carrots is ground and compacted layer by layer. Then press the top layer with your hands so that it is covered with juice. Place a clean porcelain plate on top and place pressure on it.An excellent pressure is a 3 liter jar filled with water.

You can stick a wooden stick or even a rolling pin into the side of the cabbage so that the gases that are formed during lactic fermentation can escape. In the first days, it is necessary to pierce the vegetable mass with a pointed stick or long knife to the very bottom several times a day, releasing gases. This must be done so that the sauerkraut does not acquire an unpleasant bitterness.

The initial stage of fermentation takes place in the room and usually lasts three days. A lot here depends on the degree of compaction of the cabbage and varietal characteristics. When the brine became lighter, almost absorbed into the cabbage, and the foam disappeared, the main fermentation process ended. Then the finished cabbage must be transferred to glass jars, pour brine on top, close with lids and place in the refrigerator.

In the video, Bogdan Ribak shares a simple and easy way to make sauerkraut at home.

How to ferment cabbage to make cabbage rolls

If during the cold season we want to have cabbage for making cabbage rolls, we can ferment it with whole forks. They should be small in size, weighing up to a kilogram. Prepare the brine in advance: add 0.5 kg of salt to 10 liters of boiled water. The brine must be cooled.

Cabbage heads are placed in a large container and brine is poured so that it covers them by 10 cm. To make fermentation faster, you can put a couple of fresh corn cobs in the container. The cabbage should stand in the brine under pressure.

On the fifth day, the brine is drained and refilled. This is necessary so that the salt in the container is distributed more evenly. The same procedure must be repeated after 2 days. The fermentation process will be completed in a few weeks.Store forks submerged in brine in a container with a tightly closed lid. You can disassemble the heads of cabbage into individual leaves, place them in 3 liter jars, fill them with brine and store them in the refrigerator. Stuffed cabbage rolls made from sauerkraut are called “sarma”.

Pickling cabbage

It is not difficult to prepare cabbage for future use by pickling it. To do this, the heads of cabbage are chopped or cut into squares, and the carrots are grated. The jars are tightly filled with mixed vegetables, several peeled garlic cloves are placed there and the boiled marinade is poured over them.

To prepare it, 2 liters of water will require 4 tbsp. l. salt, 2 tbsp. l. granulated sugar, a few bay leaves and a dozen black peppercorns. When the hot marinade is poured into the jars, add 1.5 tbsp. l. vinegar. Then the jars can be rolled up. It is better to store jars in a cool place. The cabbage will be completely pickled after three days. It turns out so tasty that in most families, winter preparations end before the onset of cold weather.

Pickled cabbage is consumed not only fresh. It can be fried in vegetable oil, and you will get a very tasty and tender filling for dumplings or homemade pies.

In the video, Irina Khlebnikova shares tips on how to prepare pickled cabbage with beets in Georgian style. You just need to take into account that adding beets or bell peppers to cabbage makes it taste sweeter.

Salads with cabbage

Salads for the winter are a real field for creativity. I slightly changed the composition of the vegetables included in the dish or added new spices, and the taste of the salad changes. And how useful are jars of delicious salads when the housewife is tired or simply doesn’t have time to prepare dinner!

Salads can be made from vegetables that have ripened in the garden. But cabbage will decorate any salad. It is this that gives the dish richness, and also makes it juicy and crispy.

Cabbage can be cut into strips or squares, carrots can also be cut into strips or use a coarse grater. The remaining vegetables are usually cut into cubes. Any salad, except cabbage, perfectly combines onions, tomatoes and aromatic sweet peppers.

Greens, garlic and spices are selected to taste. However, it should be taken into account that the salad will be sealed in jars, so you need to put greens in it in moderation. The same applies to garlic. To prevent the jars from “exploding,” the garlic must be placed in whole cloves, without cutting them into small pieces.

To 6 kg of prepared vegetable mixture add 1/2 cup granulated sugar, 2-3 tbsp. l. salt, 200 ml oil and 100-150 ml vinegar. Mix everything together thoroughly and leave for a couple of hours so that the vegetables marinate a little and release juice.

Then the salad mixture is put on fire and boiled for about 15 minutes. No longer needed! Boiling for too long will completely destroy the vitamins, and in addition, the salad will no longer be crispy. The hot preparation is placed in pre-sterilized jars and sealed. You can store such salads in the room.

Not everyone likes the sour taste of vinegar in their dishes. How to cook salad with cabbage, vegetables and apples without vinegar can be found on our website Make it delicious!.

How to make delicious cabbage in dressings

Borscht is the king of our table and a symbol of family comfort. Many housewives have long figured out how to save time and effort by making borscht dressings at the end of summer or fall.Having such preparations, in winter it is enough to boil the potatoes in meat broth and open a jar of vegetable dressing.

Experienced housewives try to make borscht dressings in large quantities, then putting them into portioned jars. For 6 kg of cabbage you will need the same weight of beets, 2 kg of ripe tomatoes, carrots and onions, 1 kg of sweet pepper, 400 ml of vegetable oil, a glass of granulated sugar, 3.5 tbsp. l. salt and 300 ml vinegar.

Before processing, all vegetables are washed and peeled. Cabbage, carrots and beets are cut into neat strips, and the remaining vegetables are cut into small cubes. After this, put all the vegetables in a saucepan, salt them, add sugar and butter and simmer, stirring, making sure that the heat is not too high. Then vinegar is poured into the vegetable mixture and cooked for another 10 minutes. The hot dressing is placed in clean jars and sealed.

Pros and cons of freezing cabbage

Sometimes it is more convenient to freeze cabbage than to store it fresh. In winter, this cabbage is good for preparing borscht, cabbage soup, solyanka and cabbage rolls. Due to the fact that cabbage leaves become soft when thawed, crispy salads cannot be obtained from it. In addition to white cabbage, Brussels sprouts and cauliflower are also frozen.

To prepare cabbage for cabbage rolls, blanch the cabbage leaves for a couple of minutes in boiling water. Then they are divided into portions and stored in the freezer in plastic bags or containers. For soups, borscht and solyanka, it is convenient to freeze cabbage either in whole sheets or pre-shredded.

Mushroom solyanka with cabbage

Autumn is the time when there is a lot of cabbage and plenty of mushrooms in the forest. Their tastes go well together, so, if you wish, you can prepare several jars with a delicious hodgepodge of mushrooms and cabbage for the winter.You will get an original appetizer, a side dish, and a good hearty main course. A big plus is that even novice housewives can make such winter preparations.

For solyanka, cabbage and mushrooms are taken in approximately equal proportions. To make the hodgepodge uniform in consistency, chop the cabbage finely. Add 100 ml of sunflower oil, 30 ml of vinegar and a small amount of water to cabbage (1 kg). Mix everything thoroughly and cook over low heat for about half an hour. Then add 100 g of tomato paste, 1 tbsp. l. sugar, 0.5 tbsp. l. salt and bay leaves, mix and cook over the fire for another quarter of an hour.

The mushrooms are sorted, washed, boiled in slightly salted water and fried with onions for 10-15 minutes until golden brown. Then the mushrooms are added to the cabbage and cooked together for 5-10 minutes. The hot hodgepodge is placed in jars and sealed. This product should be stored in a cool room, away from sunlight.