Flirting Over Cabbage

For Russians in centuries past, the transition from summer into fall was a time for bringing in the cabbage harvest. Depending on where a village was, the cutting of the cabbage would begin on the holiday of Exaltation of the Precious and Life-giving Cross (September 14) or on the day in memory of St. Sergius of Radonezh (September 25).

It was said: “On Exhaltation Day, cabbage is the first among ladies.” (На Воздвиженье первая барыня – капуста.) And cabbage (first mentioned in the Chronicle of 1073) truly was the village matriarch. Often there was so much to process and preserve that there was a rush to get it done before the first frost, which was normally associated with Pokrov (October 1).*

For many peasants, cabbage was the only green vegetable they got three seasons of the year, and it supplied their diet with important vitamins (C and K, as well as B-5, B-6 and B-1) and minerals (potassium, iron, magnesium). Cabbage in one of its many forms (fried, braised, boiled, preserved) was always on the table. Which is why, to this day, Russia has the world’s highest per capita cabbage consumption (20 kilos per person per year).

Since enough cabbage had to be harvested, cut, preserved, and laid in to last until the next year’s harvest, it turned the annual cutting of the cabbage into a time of celebration, house visits, and courtship.

Young, mostly unmarried women (generally in a group of 10-15) dressed up in bright clothes and went from house to house to help cut and prepare their cabbage. Designated as kapustnitsy, they were warmly welcomed, and after they had settled into their chopping, young eligible men would show up uninvited, entertaining them with jokes and compliments, helping them close the oak barrels filled with cabbage, then wrestling them into the subterranean storage. Many matches were thus made over this all-important vegetable.

As the famous Russian folklorist Ivan Sakharov summarized in the first half of the nineteenth century: “In Siberia neighbors were invited to cabbage evenings. There, the kapustnitsy would congratulate the homeowner on their cabbage as they entered the house, as if congratulating them on a holiday. The most welcome guests were served beer, lunch and dinner, culminating in a fine pie. The day ended with dancing and games. These gatherings went on for two weeks in Russia.”

There are innumerable ways to prepare cabbage, and we share one designed for quick delivery, which should leave you plenty of time for jokes, compliments and dancing.

* All dates Old Style.

Quick Sauerkraut with Beets and Carrots

Быстро маринованная белокочанная капуста со свеклой и морковью

5 cups white cabbage

½ cup beets

½ cup carrots

½ a chili pepper (optional)

1 cup water

¾ cup vinegar

½ cup vegetable oil

3 tsp. sugar

3 tsp. sea salt

Finely slice all of the vegetables with a knife or in a food processor with a fine blade attachment. Place in a large glass bowl.

Bring the water, vinegar, oil, salt and sugar to a boil, then pour over the vegetables. Mix thoroughly, and allow to cool to room temperature.

Cover the glass bowl with plastic wrap so that it touches the cabbage mixture.

Place a weight on top of the plastic wrap, for example a bowl or container of smaller size with water in it. Put into the refrigerator for several hours or, preferably, overnight.

The marinade should fully cover the vegetables, if not, you need to increase the weight of your “load.”

Serve when it has pickled to your taste.