Ingredients
Cabbage
- 2.5 kgwhite cabbage, firm and heavy
- 300 gcarrots, coarsely grated
- 50 gnon-iodised salt — 2% of the shredded weight
- 1 tbspblack peppercorns
- 4bay leaves
- 1 tbspdill seed, optional
Equipment
- a crock, barrel or large glass jar
- a weight that fits inside
- whole outer cabbage leaves, saved
To use it
- kapusniak soup
- salad with sunflower oil and onion
- varenyky filling
Directions
- Set aside two whole outer leaves. Quarter the cabbages, cut out the cores, and shred everything finely.
- Weigh the shredded cabbage and carrot and use exactly 2 percent of that weight in salt. This is the only figure that matters: under 1.5 percent the batch goes soft and slimy, over 3 percent the lactic bacteria stall and nothing ferments.
- Mix the salt through, leave 20 minutes, then knead and crush it hard by the handful for ten minutes until it is limp and swimming in its own brine.
- Pack into the crock in layers with the peppercorns, bay and dill seed, pressing each layer down with a fist to drive out air.
- Lay the whole leaves on top, set the weight on them, and check the brine covers everything. If it does not after an hour, top up with 2 percent brine — never plain water.
- Everything under the brine ferments; everything above it moulds. That is the entire craft.
- Keep at 18 to 20°C (64 to 68°F) for the first week. Pierce down to the bottom with a clean wooden stick once a day to release trapped gas — without this, pockets of carbon dioxide collect and give the cabbage a bitter taste.
- Skim any white film from the surface as it appears.
- Then move it somewhere cool, 10 to 15°C (50 to 59°F), for another three to five weeks.
- Taste from four weeks. It is ready when it is sharply sour and still crisp. Move it to jars in the fridge under its brine, where it keeps months. Keep the brine — it is drunk, and it sours kapusniak.
Technique
- Two percent salt by weight. Weigh it.
- Pierce to the bottom daily in the first week.
- Kahm yeast on the surface is skimmed off. Fuzzy coloured mould means the crock goes out.
Substitutions
- Whole heads salted in a barrel, which is the old village way and gives leaves for holubtsi.
- Apple, cranberry or beetroot added, all of which are done.
- A ziplock bag of brine as a weight, which seals the surface as it presses.
Variations
- Kapusta with beetroot, which turns the whole crock crimson.
- The Polish kiszona kapusta and Russian kvashenaya kapusta are the same preserve.
History
Barrels of shredded cabbage are salted each autumn; the sour cabbage feeds kapusniak and winter salads until spring.
Frequently asked questions
What is Kvashena kapusta?
Kvashena kapusta is a fermented & pickled from Ukraine: cabbage salted and fermented in barrels, eaten as salad or in soup. Barrels of shredded cabbage are salted each autumn; the sour cabbage feeds kapusniak and winter salads until spring.
How long does Kvashena kapusta take to make?
Kvashena kapusta takes 45 min plus 4 to 6 weeks fermenting of preparation and no cooking at all. The recipe makes makes about 2 kg. It is rated medium to make.
What can I substitute in Kvashena kapusta?
Yes, within limits. Whole heads salted in a barrel, which is the old village way and gives leaves for holubtsi. Apple, cranberry or beetroot added, all of which are done. A ziplock bag of brine as a weight, which seals the surface as it presses.
What is the most important thing to get right in Kvashena kapusta?
Weigh the shredded cabbage and carrot and use exactly 2 percent of that weight in salt. This is the only figure that matters: under 1.5 percent the batch goes soft and slimy, over 3 percent the lactic bacteria stall and nothing ferments.
