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Spring cabbage from an allotment harvest

PRESERVING GUIDE

Preserving Spring cabbage

Make the most of your spring cabbage harvest with careful short term storage and preparation.

Shredded spring cabbage prepared for freezing beside a cabbage half

Freezing Spring Cabbage

General preservation or storage guidance

Preparation About 20 minutes active, plus cooling and freezing

Spring cabbage freezes for cooked dishes after a short blanch and prompt cooling; frozen leaves soften and are not suited to raw salads.

Method

  1. Choose a fresh, firm spring-cabbage head. Remove coarse outer leaves, rinse, quarter and core it.
  2. Cut into medium or coarse shreds, thin wedges or separate leaves. Blanch in boiling water for 1½ minutes, timing once the water returns to a boil.
  3. Cool promptly and thoroughly in cold water; drain well.
  4. Pack in freezer containers, leaving about 1.3 cm (½ in) headspace. Seal, label and freeze promptly.
  5. Use from frozen in cooked dishes; expect a softer texture. Keep continuously frozen and do not refreeze thawed cabbage.

Storage

Freezer at −18°C or colder · Keep continuously frozen; no exact quality period stated

Sources and scope

Spring cabbage fermenting beneath brine in a glass jar

Fermenting Spring Cabbage

General preservation or storage guidance

Preparation About 30 minutes active, then 3–4 weeks at 21–24°C or 5–6 weeks at 16–18°C

Spring cabbage can make sauerkraut using the measured cabbage-and-salt process; the ferment stays submerged while it develops and is refrigerated when complete.

Method

  1. Use firm, fresh spring-cabbage heads and begin within 24–48 hours of harvest for best quality. Remove outer leaves, rinse, quarter, remove cores and shred about 6 mm (¼ in) thick.
  2. Work in batches of about 2.3 kg (5 lb). For each batch mix in exactly 3 tablespoons canning or pickling salt, then pack firmly into a suitable food-grade fermentation vessel until juice rises.
  3. Repeat with the remaining cabbage. Keep it submerged under its own juice; if needed, add boiled-and-cooled brine made with 1½ tablespoons salt per 1 US quart (about 0.95 L) water. Fit a food-grade plate and weight and cover with a clean cloth.
  4. Ferment at 21–24°C for about 3–4 weeks, or at 16–18°C for about 5–6 weeks. Below 16°C fermentation may not proceed; above 24°C the kraut may soften. Follow the tested process and check as directed.
  5. When fermentation is complete, transfer the kraut and brine to covered containers and refrigerate. NCHFP says fully fermented kraut keeps for several months refrigerated; discard it if mouldy, slimy or otherwise spoiled. Do not treat it as cupboard-stable unless separately processed by the tested canning directions.

Storage

Keep fully fermented kraut covered in its brine in the refrigerator · NCHFP guidance says several months refrigerated; inspect and discard spoiled kraut

Sources and scope

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