Cabbage

Gorgeous photo by Pia Tryde, professional photographer

My favorite used book store find, Sloe Gin and Beeswax, is the source of the majority of my home aspirations. It's a beautifully photographed book of seasonal recipes from traditional old fashioned storerooms. I would like a storeroom and a mud room one day. But for now I'll be picking away at the projects the book inspires in our Southern California farm house where food grows all year round and we never have to "put anything up". We just get to.

This is not a book for beginners- it's the B side of cookbooks for the connoisseur (otherwise where would you find juniper berries and blades of mace.) One has to look around a bit. Here is a recipe from the book. I recommend you get your hands on a copy for the art of it alone.

Pickled Red Cabbage

2 red cabbages

4oz salt

1 pint red wine vinegar

1 pint distilled malt vinegar

4 bay leaves

1 tablespoon juniper berries

4 whole dried chillies

1 tbsp black peppercorns

Small piece fresh ginger

1 tsp coriander seeds

5 blades mace

Quarter cabbages and remove stem and core. Shred very finely and put into a bowl sprinkling layers with salt, and leave for 24 hours. Meanwhile put vinegars into a pan and add spices except bay leaves and juniper berries. Bring to a boil, simmer for 5 minutes ten leave to get cold. Next day wash leaves and juniper berries. Pour in the strained vinegar and seal the lids.