Firsts on the First - Preserving Cabbage

I've grown cabbage before, but only enough to eat. This year we planted quite a bit more in the spring, and started some from seed a few weeks ago for a fall crop. There is no way we are going to eat all that cabbage. Time to learn to preserve it!

A little over a week ago, we attended a play date with a group of friends. Hot dogs were grilled, and everyone brought a side dish to share. There was a bowl of coleslaw there that looked a little different than what I expect coleslaw to look like. I'm adventurous, so I added some of it to my hot dog. (It is a West Virginia custom, but one I've thoroughly embraced since living here.) It was different, but absolutely delicious.

Imagine my delight, knowing that I have a lot of cabbage, to find that it was a home canned slaw. Crystal was kind enough to share the recipe with me.

Slaw
1 medium cabbage

1 large carrot

1 green pepper

1 small onion

1 tsp salt

-syrup-

1 cup vinegar

1/4 cup water

2 cups sugar

1 tsp celery seed

1 tsp mustard seed

*Boil syrup ingredients together one minute.

*let cool.

*shred together vegetables

*add salt

*let stand one hour

*Drain water from veggies

*rinse twice

*drain well

*pack tightly in pint jars

*pour enough syrup in each jar to fill space and bring to correct head space.

*seal

*process in BWB 15m.

*** Use as is or with mayo

My head of cabbage was fairly large. I doubled the other ingredients to accommodate. I did have some extra syrup left at the end, but just used it to make some fresh slaw for dinner.

I used the food processor to chop all the vegetables. The slicing blade worked very well for the cabbage, and the chopping blade did the job on the carrots. I used the grater on the onion and peppers, and I thought they were too fine that way. Next time I will simply chop those vegetables too.

I also packed mine in quart jars, and increased the boiling time to 20 minutes. My yield was three quarts.

And as if trying one new thing in a day weren't enough, I tried sauerkraut in a jar. I saw this recipe over at Laura Williams Musings last summer, when I had very little cabbage. This is a very simple recipe. Click on over there to see it.

I can't say for sure my cabbage preserving was a success, since we have not yet tasted the finished product. They sure do look pretty in the jars though!




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