The cold method of canning, which is salting cabbage for the winter, allows you to maximize all the beneficial properties of this vegetable and the vitamins contained in it. Earlier in Russia, salted cabbage was the only type of canned food available to every family, which they ate throughout the winter and spring, fleeing vitamin deficiency. But in itself, salted sauerkraut is an excellent appetizer and side dish for many dishes.
The time when you need to harvest salted cabbage
Almost every family has and still has recipes for salted cabbage, which are passed down from generation to generation. Delicious, aromatic and crispy sauerkraut was the pride of any housewife. But it was important not only to use the right recipe and the right ingredients, but also to meet the time frame in which the cabbage turned out to be really great.
First of all, the heads of cabbage were not removed from the beds until the first frosts hit, still weak enough to freeze the heads of cabbage, but already those under the influence of which the acid was converted into sugar. Usually, in the middle lane, cabbage salting began in mid-November, at the 10th, 10-14 days after the onset of frost.
Salted cabbage, in addition to vitamins and trace elements, contains nicotinic and lactic acid, as well as fiber, which is useful for peristalsis and digestion.
In addition to this period, which is fully explained by understandable reasons, there were other beliefs. There was no rational explanation for them, but, nevertheless, they had to be scrupulously adhered to. Full moon days were considered unsuitable for pickling cabbage, it was believed that if you harvest it on these days, it will turn out sour and soft, and will not crunch. But 5-6 days of the new moon were considered the most suitable. In addition, cabbage had to be salted only on "men's" days of the week - Monday, Tuesday or Thursday. And of course, cabbage categorically did not work if the hostess was engaged in harvesting it during her critical days.
How to choose the right cabbage
But still, how tasty the salted cabbage turns out to be depends more not on the phase of the lunar calendar, but on the quality of the raw materials. When choosing white cabbage, it is better to take large, well-ripened heads of cabbage weighing 3-4 kg, white with leaves tightly adjacent to each other. A distinctive feature of such a cabbage is the shape of the head - it is slightly flattened.
For salting cabbage, you cannot use iodized salt - only coarsely ground salt.
When salting for aroma and taste, hard apples can be added to cabbage, in this capacity they usually use "Antonovka" or "Semirenko". Cabbage layers can also be sprinkled with cranberries, sometimes they are replaced with lingonberries. From spices add dry dill seeds, bay leaf. Salt cabbage with carrots, grated on a coarse grater.
