Canned Vegetable Base for Cabbage Soup
Everyone put up jars of borscht base; a winter base for shchi — the Russian cabbage soup — was canned far more rarely, though it is arguably handier, since the acidity comes from tomatoes and tomato paste rather than beets, so the jar opens as a finished soup.
The whole trick sits in the order of additions. Tomato goes in only half an hour before the end, and that is chemistry rather than tradition: acid stalls the breakdown of pectin in cabbage, so paste added at the start locks 2 kg (about 4½ lb) of cabbage into permanent toughness. Ninety minutes of stewing sounds long, but that is how long the mixture needs to cook down to a storable thickness, while the cup of oil forms a fat layer on top that acts as extra protection. Sterilize jars and lids without fail, invert the sealed jars and wrap them until fully cool, and keep an opened jar no longer than three days in the refrigerator.
What the jar becomes in January
- Let down with broth — shchi in ten minutes.
- Heated through with ground meat and cooked rice — lazy cabbage rolls.
- Left thick — a warm side for meat or buckwheat.
Part of Eastern European cuisine — 65 more recipes in the section.
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Ingredients
Instructions
Shred the cabbage and chop the tomatoes and bell peppers.
Stew the vegetable mixture with the oil, salt and sugar for 1.5 hours.
Half an hour before the end of cooking, add the tomato sauce or paste — added earlier, it leaves the cabbage tough.
Add the bay leaves and peppercorns to taste at the same time.
Ladle the hot mixture into sterilized jars and seal.
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