My dad used to make this. I loved it so much I would stand at the frig door and eat it straight out of the jar. Recently I got a hankering for it, and handily had one last red cabbage to use up before the great flowering. I don’t have my dad’s recipe and he isn’t with us anymore to ask, but remembering that after a couple of weeks it would go soft and I didn’t like it as much, I decided to adapt a quick pickle recipe. This is not a pickle that you can put away for months – if you want that make sauerkraut – this is just a really cool thing to do with red cabbage. The vinegar turns it an amazing colour and it takes on a moreish texture thats crunchy and squeaky all at once. If you don’t want to eat it plain out of the jar, its nice on a cheese sandwhich, and great in a hamburger or taco.

ingredients

• 1/2 a red cabbage
• 1 cup cider vinegar
• 1 cup water
• 5 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black peppercorns
• 1 tsp coriander seeds

method

1. Sterilise a 3 cup capacity glass jar and lid by washing thoroughly with detergent and hot water, rinsing thoroughly, and putting into a 120 C oven for 20 minutes. Or put it through a dishwasher cycle.
2. Bring the vinegar, water, sugar, salt, peppercorns and coriander to the boil in a small pot. You can play with the amount of sugar at this stage. Add less sugar and taste it, keep adding more until you reach your prefered sweetness.
3. Slice the cabbage and put into a big bowl.
4. Pour the boiling liquid over the top and stir it through. Leave to sit for a minute or two then put the cabbage into the jar and pour the hot liquid over. put the lid on and store in the frig once it cools.