Pickled Red Cabbage Recipe

Pickling food is an ancient way to preserve it for later use. It is thought that pickling of food began in ancient India, approximately 4000 years ago. Pickling was devised to preserve foods which were being taken on long journeys to prevent them spoiling.

Pickling various foods preserved them for longer periods, ensuring that out of season foods could still be eaten. These types of preserved foods were ideal for long sea voyages as they ensured the crew had ample food for the entire journey. The indians used mainly native cucumbers to pickle and the pratice eventually spread to Europe and the Americas.

When trade between contients was established, the pratice of pickling became popular to preserve new types of foods for later consumption. Although in the past, pickling was used primarially to preserve foods, in modern times, pickled food is enjoyed for it’s taste and crunchy texture.

Ingredients

A quarter of a cabbage
3 cups red wine vinegar
3 cups water
5 cloves of garlic
Peppercorns to taste
2 tablespoons of sugar
1 teaspoon of salt

Method

Slice the cabbage as thin as you can and rinse it in clean water. This gets rid of any dirt or bugs.
Pack the sliced cabbage into jars and put the sliced garlic and chilli on top. Leave some garlic to make the brine.
Put the water, leftover garlic, peppercorns, salt, sugar into a pot and bring to the boil. Pour the red wine vinegar into the pot and stir. This will create your hot brine mixture.

Pour the hot brine mixture over the cabbage in the jars and screw on the lids. Leave them to cool on the counter then put them in the fridge.

Don’t open for 48 hours for best results.