Fermented cabbage

Cabbage is a perfect food. It is cancer-fighting, high in vitamins and minerals and also is low in calories. So if you are on a health kick and/or trying to lose weight, cabbage is a food for you. No wonder there is a cabbage soup diet; but cabbage in the soup is boiled, so it lost a lot of it's health benefits. Enter fermented cabbage. It is raw cabbage for all intents and purposes, but it also contains "good" bacteria, the result of fermentation, so it is sort of a double-whammy. With no further delay, let's start on the recipe.

Get yourself a large head of cabbage or two of the medium ones and shred them into a large bowl. Get a carrot or two and shred into the same bowl:

Now, start squeezing and crushing cabbage inside the bowl with your hands so it gives juice. Sprinkle salt while you are doing it. I do not have set amount of salt to use, but usually I turn the whole bowl five times and sprinkle salt around the whole surface three times. The point here is to give it enough of salt but not overdo it. If you add too much salt fermentation process will halter; we do not want that, although you will end up with some nice coleslaw, but it will not be fermented. You can taste the cabbage while you are crushing it to make sure it is just a bit salty.

Now, get yourself some glass container. I use a leftover two quart jar from pickles. Start packing cabbage into the jar with your fist. You will feel the amount of packing pressure needed: the juice should cover each layer, maybe just a little bit. Once you run out of cabbage or the jar is full, put some weight on top of the cabbage to keep it submerged under it's own juice. I use a bottle of wine for that:

And this is it. Keep it on the counter top for five to seven days. After a couple of days the juice should start foaming (if you did not overdo on the salt), and then foaming will subside. That's the time to repack cabbage into the smaller containers and put them in the fridge.