Preservation: Cabbage to Spanish Curtido

I chose to pickle raw cabbage into a spicy "curtido" which is meant to accompany the pupusas I cooked in my last blog. The method I used to pickle my cabbage was using apple cidar vinegar and a few spices and other veggies which all go into the process of making curtido. Apple cidar vinegar is great to preserve or pickle raw ingredients into new dishes or garnishes and it gives a better flavour than just regular vinegar which is why I chose to use this as my pickling agent.

My ingredients shown above were all cut and portioned ready to start pickling in the mason jar I had. 

INGREDIENTS:

2 Whole Carrots cut Paysanne

2 Cups Shredded Cabbage

1 Cup & a Half of White Spanish Onion cut Medium Dice

3 Tsp of Coarse Sea Salt (non-iodized)

2 Tsp of Oregano

2 Tsp Grinded Black Peppercorns

3 Bay Leaves

1 Cup Apple Cidar Vinegar

3 Cups Water

2 Whole Jalepenos

INSTRUCTIONS:

The first step is to boil 8 cups of water or just enough to cover your cabbage and diced onion, once your water is boiled cook the cabbage and onions for about two minutes in the hot water then remove and pass under cold water to stop further cooking. Once your cabbage and onions are cooled down grab a mason jar and place your cabbage and onion inside alongside your paysanne cut carrots and whole jalapenos according to how spicy you want it, next put in your spices being oregano, bay leaves, salt and pepper and lastly the cup of apple cidar vinegar. Once all your ingredients are in your mason jar mix it well so all the ingredients are evenly spread out in the jar and place enough water to cover all your ingredients in the jar then place in the fridge for at least 24 hours to get a nice pickle and all the flavours of the spices and veggies into your cabbage.

FINAL PRODUCT:

The final product I made came out very tasty and spiced you could taste all the ingredients that fermented in the vinegar but still leaving the carrots and cabbage crispy to the bite which is important to add that kind of texture to the pupusas I made earlier! I really liked what I made and how I made it but if I would change one step in my process I would get a bigger mason jar so I could add more water in ratio to the vinegar because my cabbage came out a little too strong in the vinegar taste and more water added into the mix.