A Cure For All Ills

A Cure for All Ils

Sauerkraut, or sour cabbage, is made in many countries. But nowhere is it consumed in such large quantities as in Russia. And probably nowhere else will you find such a variety of recipes for preparing it.

In Russia, sauerkraut is eaten year-round, spiced-up with different vegetables, according to the season. Salted cabbage is an extremely popular snack to have with vodka (there is even a slang term in Russian to indicate the process of drinking — kvasit, to make sour — the Russian equivalent of being pickled). And sauerkraut is also considered to be an effective antidote against hangovers. By the way, this idea is well-recorded in cultural tradition, for even the Ancient Greeks believed that “by eating cabbage before drinking, you won’t get drunk, and if you eat it afterwards, you will dispel your drunkenness.” In that culture, cabbage was generally considered magical and was used to heal wounds and as a cure for insomnia. 

No one knows exactly when the Slavs started growing cabbage. But it is reputed to have been brought to Russia from the East, by the Mongols. It gained wide acceptance during the time of Peter the Great, when foreign ships arrived in Russia carrying barrels of sauerkraut as a medicine against scurvy. Soon afterwards, during the building of St. Petersburg, when thousands of peasants labored cold and hungry in the swamps of the Neva delta, sauerkraut from the stores of foreign sailors saved many a life.

Two hundred years ago, sour cabbage was already being made throughout Russia. It was made in the fall, after bringing in the harvest. And in many places, this event became something of a holiday. Country youngsters went from door to door with the official purpose of helping to chop cabbage and the unofficial one of making new acquaintances. Later, the whole village would turn out to celebrate the “cabbage weddings.”

In today’s Russia too, a “cabbage boom” takes place from September to November. People buy cabbage by the sackful and fill their balconies with buckets, pots and tubs full of salted cabbage to eat throughout the winter.

Here is our recipe for pickled cabbage. If the portions are too large for your expected consumption level, you may want to divide the quantities by five.

—Yelena Utenkova

Sour Cabbage

Ingredients:

10 kg (22 lbs) of cabbage

1 kg (2.2 lbs) of apples

750 g (1.7 lbs) of carrots

200-250 g (.44-.55 lbs) salt

Cranberries and/or lingonberries to taste

First pick off the defective and green leaves from the cabbage head, then shred or chop it. Cut the carrots and apples into little circles or strips. The large apples may be cut into slices, after removing their cores. Mix the cabbage, carrots and apples with the cranberries and lingonberries, sprinkle with salt and place in a tub or jar that has been thoroughly washed and sterilized with boiling water. Pack tightly. Place a wooden lid on top of the cabbage and weight it down. Cover the tub with a clean cloth. For a jar, it is sufficient to pack the cabbage in tightly.

Next, the secretion of juices takes place. At this stage, it is a good idea to pierce the cabbage several times with a clean, sharp stick in order to disperse the gases evenly. Otherwise, the cabbage will turn bitter. Any foam produced should be removed.

The fermenting of the cabbage takes 3 to 4 days at a temperature of about 20 degrees Celsius. After this, the tub should be taken to a dry, cool place for storage. Jars should be closed tightly with lids.

After two to three weeks, the cabbage is ready to be eaten. Sauerkraut is usually