Pickled Beets & Cabbage – Borscht

This is an all-time favorite.  The beet-cabbage flavor is sublime.  This borscht version uses canned beets and boxed vegetable stock for easy fixing.  This traditional dish from Eastern Europe produces a brilliant fuchsia color. Serve Pickled Beets & Cabbage cold or hot with a dollop of sour cream and dill or chives.  This recipe makes 1 quart.  – Recipe by B. Hettig

Ingredients for Pickled Beets & Cabbage:

• 1 cup of cabbage.
• 2 canned beets, unsweetened, no spices, and rinsed.
• 1/2 cup of onion, sliced, and soaked in cold water for 30 minutes.
• 2 teaspoons of chopped garlic.
• 2 cups of boxed, low sodium, vegetable stock.  Organic is a good choice.
• Sea salt, use 3/4 tablespoons coarse salt, or 2 teaspoons fine salt.
• 2 tablespoons of aged brine from previous batch of brine pickles.
• 1/2 teaspoon of peppercorn, lightly cracked or coarsely ground.

Directions for Pickled Beets & Cabbage:

1. Use a food processor fitted with a medium grating disc and process the cabbage, beets, onions, and garlic.
2. Make up the brine by combining the stock, salt, and aged brine.
3. Add cracked pepper to a 1-quart canning jar.  Then add the vegetables, tamping lightly, until about 2 inches from the jar lip.
4. Add the brine until about an inch from the jar lip.
5. Use some sort of weighty object to hold the beets and cabbage under the brine solution. Be sure to place the jar in your sink as you do this as there is sure to be spillage. We sell our brine overflow cup as a weight here: Brine “Catch” Cup – Wide Mouth
6. Remove the cup and wipe any debris on the lip of the cup and the jar, then put the cup back in. Install a Lid Gasket inside a Wide Mouth Fermenter Lid. Tighten the lid until its snug.
7. Add tap water to a ClearView Airlock to the max line. Now gently insert the airlock into the hole of the fermenter lid until snug. Make sure not to push too deeply into the lid. As the fermentation happens, the water should move back and forth, and bubbles should move through the airlock, this is correct and indicates a tight seal.
8. Write down the date you began fermentation on the lid using a Lid Marking Pen. After 4 days, check to see if the beets and cabbage are sour enough for you. If they are not, just add a day and re-check.

SERVING SUGGESTIONS:
A dollop of sour cream or nut cream,
fresh dill, or parsley,
fresh tomatoes, finely diced.

For even better and more delectable recipes, check out our Fermentation Recipe Booklet, where you will find many recipes, tips and tricks to brine pickling, and so much more!