PICKLED CABBAGE
Numbers of different kinds of cabbage came with settlers from Europe to North America. Some were ideal for making sauerkraut—Filderkraut, Wakefield Cabbages, the Drumhead—others for braising such as the York, the Flat Dutch, and the Savoy. Numbers of cabbages were thought ideal for pickling—the Brunswick, any of the Red Cabbages, Winningstadt, Erfurt. Cabbages were both brined and pickled—that is immersed in salt sollution or in vinegar and spice solution. In the South the pickled cabbages became a medium for experimentation with spices. A student of mine, Jordan Van Winkle, collected the following recipes from pre 1920 southern cookbooks to illustrate the range of preparation that cabbage enabled. It must be said that this is one genre of pickle that has never gone out of style.
To Pickle Cabbage (The Virginia Housewife 1838).
Slice the cabbage crosswise; put it on an earthen dish, sprinkle a handful of salt over it; cover it with another dish, and let it stand twenty-four hours; put it in a colander to drain, and lay it in a jar; take white-wine vinegar enough to cover it, a little cloves, mace, and allspice; put them in whole; boil it up, and put it over, hot or cold, which you like best, and cover it close with a cloth. Then tie it over with leather.
Another.
Select the best head of cabbage, quarter them, sprinkle a good deal of salt on them, and let them remain about five days. To a gallon of vinegar, ass an ounce each of mace, allspice, and cloves. Pour the vinegar, boiling hot, on the cabbage, and repeat the boiling and turning it on the cabbage several times, at intervals of two or three days, for two weeks. Randolph, Mary, “To Pickle a Cabbage,” The Virginia Housewife ( Plaskitt, Fite& Co., 1838) p. 139-40.
Cabbage (Useful Receipts and Hints to Young Housekeepers 1859).
Cut hard cabbage fine as slaw; sprinkle salt through it, and let it lay under a moderate pressure for twelve hours; drain well through a colander; slice a dozen raw onions; have a large jar in readiness, put in a layer of cabbage, strew in some of the onions, a few cloves, a tea-cupful of mustard seed, some whole black pepper; cut six half ripe red pepper pods, and sprinkle in; add a little more salt; boil vinegar and pour on sufficient to cover the mixture. Lea, Elizabeth E., “Cabbage,” Useful Receipts and Hints to Young Housekeepers (Baltimore: Cushing and Bailey, 1859) p.162
Cabbage Pickle (Confederate Receipt Book 1863).
Cut up the cabbage on a cabbage-cutter, sprinkle with salt, let it stand twelve hours, drain it, and press out any moisture that remains. Put it into a jar, with layers of white mustard-seed between, and fill with cold vinegar. Gary, G.W., “Cabbage Pickle,” Confederate Receipt Book (Richmond: West & Johnson, 1863) p. 43.
Cabbage Pickle (Mrs. Elliott’s Housewife 1870).
Quarter cabbages and split the quarter, put them in a wooden tray, and sprinkle each piece with salt. Let it remain twenty-four hours, then drain them from salt. After it is well drained, pack it in a jar with a layer of sugar, some onion chopped fine, and different kinds of spices. Boil sufficient vinegar to cover it, and pour on boiling hot; tie it up closely. For a two gallon jar, with cabbage in it, one gallon of vinegar will answer. Elliott, Sarah A., “Cabbage Pickle,” Mrs. Elliott’s Housewife(New York: Hurd and Houghton, 1870) p. 214
Boiled Cabbage Pickle. (The Queen of the Kitchen 1874).
807. 1 peck of cabbage,cut in quarters, and put in layers with salt; let it stand 24 hours,and then drain off the salt and water; take4 sliced onions, and put them with the cabbage into a kettle; cover them with vinegar, and let them boil for 1 hour. Then add 2 pounds of brown sugar, 2 ounces of turmeric, 1 ounce of mace, ½ ounce of cloeves,1 ounce of allspice, ½ teacup of ginger, 2 ounces of celery seed, 4 table-spoons of mustard seed. Then put iton the fire, and let it boil for another hour. After the pickle is made, add whole onions. This pickle will be ready for use in a day or two. It is equal to old yellow pickle, and requires little trouble in its preparation. Mary Tyson, “Boiled Cabbage Pickle.,” The Queen of the Kitchen.(Philadelphia: T. B. Peterson and Brothers, 1874)p. 340-41
Chopped Cabbage Pickle. ( The Queen of the Kitchen 1874).
2 gallons of cabbage, not chopped very fine, 5 table-spoons of mustard, 3 gills of mustard seed, 2 table-spoons of ground pepper, 2 of allspice, 2 of clove, 1 gill or salt, 1 quart of onion chopped fine, 1 ½ pound of sugar, 3 quarts of vinegar, and a little turmeric. Boil them all until they are tender; stir frequently. Mary Tyson, “Chopped Cabbage Pickle.,” The Queen of the Kitchen.(Philadelphia: T. B. Peterson and Brothers, 1874) p. 340-41
To Prepare Cabbage for Yellow Pickle. (Fifty Years in a Maryland Kitchen 1881).
Get the small hard heads of cabbage in June. Trim them and cut them in halves, put them in a jar and pour strong boiling brine on them. Let them stand three days, then boil them in plain water until you can run a straw through them. Drain them, and then dip them in dry salt and put them in the sun, and if the sun is obscured, place them before the fire. They must be perfectly dry; they look badly in this state, but don no be discouraged. Put them in cold vinegar with a little turmeric for two weeks. You can then put them in your prepared vinegar. For Two Gallons of Yellow Pickle. One pound of race ginger, soaked and sliced. One pound of garlic, not soaked. One pound of horse radish. Three ounces of pounded nutmegs.Three ounces of ground ginger. Three ounces of mace. Three ounces of turmeric.Three ounces of ground mustard. Two ounces of cloves. One and a half pounds of black pepper broken small. One pound of mustard seed. Three table-spoonfuls of celery seed bruised. One and a half pounds of good brown sugar. Two gallons of vinegar. The ingredients to be well washed and drained in the sun. Boil the vinegar and pour over the cabbage. Set the jar in the sun, and stir it up from the bottom every day. The pickles are improved by putting the jars containing them in the sun all through the summer months. Howard B.C., “To Prepare Cabbage for Yellow Pickle,” Fifty Years in a Maryland Kitchen. (Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott and Co., 1881) p. 278-79.
Cabbage Pickle. (Housekeeping in the Blue Grass 1881).
For a gallon jar take cabbage enough quartered to fill it, then pour on it hot brine; let the brine remain on them four days; squeeze them out of the brine, and pour weak vinegar over them, letting it remain several days; take strong vinegar put into it two ounces of cinnamon bark, essence of cloves to suit the taste, two ounces of turmeric; put this over the cabbage and tie closely.—Mrs. Patsey Edwards. This has taken the premium at the Bourbon Fair several times. “Cabbage Pickle,” House Keeping in the Blue Grass (Cincinnati: Robert Clarke & Co., 1881) p. 31.
Isabella’s Cabbage Pickles. (Very Good.)(Virginia Cookery- Book 1885).
Get the hardest small heads of cabbage that you can, and cut them into quarters; put them in a kettle, and spinkle over them a little salt; set them on a slow fire, and let them simmer gently till done – that is to say, tender; then take them out of the water and let them stand till the next day. Take as much vinegar as will cover them, with one table-spoonful of turmeric, and scald them; let them stand in it a day; then take them out and let them drain. Next take what flavoring you like of sugar, seed, onion and spices, with as much vinegar as will fill your pit; put them on the fire together, and when they have come to a boil pour them, scalding hot, over the cabbages, placed in a pickle-jar ready to receive the bath. You should be careful not to let the cabbage get too done, else the leaves will come apart and drop in pieces. Smith, Mary Stuart.”Isabella’s Cabbage Pickles,” Virginia Cookery- Book (New York: Harper & Brothers, Franklin Square., 1885) p. 254-55.
Pickled Purple Cabbage.(The Unrivalled Cook-Book 1886)
Pickled Purple Cabbage.—Shred the cabbage, lay in a wooden tray, sprinkle thickly with salt, and set in the cellar until the next day; drain off the brine, wipe dry, lay in the sun two hours, and cover with cold vinegar for twelve; to enough vinegar to cover the cabbage add a cupful of sugar for every gallon, a teaspoonful of celery seed for every pint, and equal quantities of mace, cloves, and whole white peppers; pack the cabbage in a stone jar, boil the vinegar and spice five minutes and pour on hot cover, and set away in a cool, dry place; it must stand six weeks. Mrs.
Washington, “Pickled Purple Cabbage,” The Unrivalled Cook- Book and Housekeeper’s Guide (New York: Harper & Brothers, Franklin Square., 1886)p. 441.
Cabbage Pickle (The Blue Grass Cookbook 1904).
Take enough cabbage to fill a 2 gallon jar and pour over hot brine. Let it remain 4 days. Squeeze them out of the brine and add weak vinegar. After 3 days take strong vinegar and add 2 ounces of cinnamon, 1 ounce cloves, 2 ounces turmeric, 1 ounce white mustard seed, 1 tablespoon black pepper, 2 tablespoon sugar,1 tablespoon ginger. Boil vinegar and spices and add cabbage, etc., and boil tender. “Cabbage Pickle,” The Blue Grass Cookbook (Fox, Duffield & Company, 1904)p.299.
Cabbage Pickle. (How We Cook in Tennesse 1906).
Cut cabbage into quarters; put in brine and remain one week. Change brine and remain one week longer. Soak about twenty minutes; press in cloth till dry. Scald with vinegar, a little turmeric, cloves allspice. Pack in a large stone jar and layer with the following spices: On pint mustard seed, four ounces race ginger, three ounces black pepper, three ounces allspice, one ounce cloves, one ounce celery seed, three handfuls horse radish, four lemons cut up, four pounds brown sugar. Cover well with could vinegar. Fine. – Miss Ella McGuire. McGuire, Ella,“Cabbage Pickle”How We Cook in Tennesse(Jacksonville: First Baptish Church) p.243.
Cabbage Pickle. (How We Cook in Tennesse 1906).
One large head of cabbage, eight onions, twelve cucumbers (slice the cucumbers lengthwise in thin slices, three tablespoons of salt sprinkled over). Put the pickle in a sack and hang up for twenty-four hours to drain. Next morning take it out and sprinkle over it two tablespoonfuls each of ginger, black pepper, celery seed and mustard; one tablespoonful each of mace and turmeric. Mix well and put in a stone jar. Put two pounds of sugar to two quarts of vinegar; let boil and pour over the pickle. Next morning let drain again; boil the vinegar again and put in jars and seal. – Mrs. J. L. Newsom. Newsom, J.L.,“Cabbage Pickle”How We Cook in Tennesse (Jacksonville: First Baptish Church) p.243.
Cabbage Sweet Pickle.(The Delta Cookbook 1917)
To 1 gallon of chopped cabbage add 4 tablespoonfuls of sale, 4 large onions chopped fine, 3 teaspoonfuls of cinnamon. 1 tablespoonful of whole cloves, 2 ½ pounds of brown sugar and enough good vinegar to cover the mixture. Put in a stone jar and boil 2 hours, covering the jar while boiling. Seal in jar while hot. Mrs. L. Bell.Fox, John Jr., “Cabbage Sweet Pickle.” The Delta Cookbook (Greeneville, The Greeneville Democrat, 1917) p. 74