Fermented curtido remains one of my favorite ferments. I love it’s flavor, versatility and ease of preparation. While I’ve posted a curtido recipe here before, I wanted to share another way of preparing it, more like a slaw, which lends itself to alternative ways of serving. it’s especially easy to make if you have a food processor, although a hand grater works fine too. I used red cabbage (I still don’t know if it’s best to call it purple cabbage) rather than the traditional green cabbage, partly because I love the intensity of the color when it’s done, but also because it packs more of a nutritional punch. I wrote some more about the nutritional benefits of red cabbage in an earlier post if you are curious

Please note that when making slaw-slyle ferments, it is especially helpful to use a fermenting crock or airlock as the small pieces naturally want to float to the surface, making for a greater chance of surface mold. I’ve made this a few times now and one time while using the jar-in-a-jar technique (which I depict below) I ended up with mold and had to discard. I’ve since committed to making this in a fermenting crock to consistently more positive results. Making this using an airlock such as in this kit from MasonTops is definitely advised.

Shredded Purple Curtido

November 22, 2014

by fermenTed

Category vegetable fermentations

Fermentation Time: 3-7 days although you could allow it to go longer

Persons

Ingredients

1 head red (purple) cabbage, shredded
1 medium onion, shredded
2 medium carrots, shredded
2 jalapeño peppers, seeded and diced
1 1/2 Tbsp sea salt
3/4 Tbsp dried Mexican oregano (Italian fine but I prefer the flavor of Mexican for this recipe)

Instructions

Prepare vegetables - shred the cabbage, onion and carrots and place in a large bowl. Dice the jalapeño and add to bowl.
Toss with salt - add the salt and oregano and toss
Let it sit - Let it sit for 30 minutes or so until it begins to sweat
Place all ingredients in a fermentation vessel - you can use a fermenting crock, or perhaps a 1 gallon Anchor Hocking Jar. Don't forget to include any liquid that may have leached from the veggies.
Compress - Use your fist to compress the mix into the bottom of the vessel, encouraging the level of the liquid to rise. I love these Pickle Packers which make compressing veggies much easier.
Place a weight directly on top of the mix - the point of this is to further the extraction of liquid from the veggies.
Cover with the lid to your crock, or with a cloth
Ensure liquid is covering the veggies - Within 8-10 hours, there should be enough extracted liquid in the container to cover the veggies completely. Add a little water if necessary to make sure the veggies are covered by an inch of liquid. If adding water, mix it thoroughly again to give the salt a chance to fully integrate into the additional liquid

Allow to ferment 3-5 days - This ferments fairly quickly to the point where the flavor is delicious in a relatively short time. You can of course ferment it longer and it will simply grow more sour Should you decide to allow it to ferment longer (up to several weeks) , it will continue to grow more sour.
Jar it up - When ready, jar it up and refrigerate to significantly slow the fermentation

Serving Suggestions

Serve it as a simple side salad, as a healthy topping to football game nachos, or a garnish along with traditional pupusas. I like to put it (or any sort of fermented cabbage dish really) as a topping to dosas.

I also posted a recipe for mixing this curtido with diced kale in making a delicious salad. You can check that recipe out here.

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Comments

Fermented Purple Curtido — 5 Comments

Mark on November 30, 2014 at 9:03 am said:

Thanks for the recipe Ted. The Purple Fermented Cortido turned out great!

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Kathryn on February 21, 2015 at 1:35 pm said:

You said to “jar it up”. Do you add the liquid to the jars? I think you must.

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- fermenTed on February 21, 2015 at 7:18 pm said:
  
  Thanks for your question Kathryn. Yes, definitely add the liquid to the jar when you “jar it up.” Hope you like it!
  
  Reply ↓
Maureen on April 3, 2017 at 4:20 pm said:

I made this a second time and, not sure why but first time was really good but second time really scrumptious. By the third day, it was foaming like the head on a beer! Thanks for the recipe!

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- fermenTed on April 4, 2017 at 9:17 am said:
  
  I know, I love when a ferment gets extra active like your purple curtido. I just had some of that from a previous batch last night with dinner!
  
  Reply ↓

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Fermented Purple Curtido