Delia Smith Pickled Red Cabbage in Spiced Malt Vinegar

Crisp Delia Smith pickled red cabbage is raw shredded red cabbage packed into jars of malt vinegar, flavoured with pickling spice and coriander seeds. Her no-salting method fills five 450g jars, and the cabbage stays crisp for up to 4 months. The jars are filled 4 hours 40 minutes after you start, mostly while the vinegar infuses, then the jars rest for about 2 months.

Delia gives it in her Complete Cookery Course (1992, page 613), next to her Quick Pickled Onions. Long pickling sessions are not for her, she admits, so her method cuts out the usual salting and brining. The recipe is simply cabbage, malt vinegar, pickling spice and coriander seeds, with no salt, onion or sugar at all.

Her Christmas ritual of cold cuts, chunky sautéed potatoes and an array of pickles and chutneys is in How to Cook Book Three (2001, page 96). Red cabbage was once confined to “a lethal dose of malt vinegar inside a pickle jar”, she writes in her Complete Cookery Course (1992, page 236). Now it is popular as a vegetable too, braised slowly in the oven with apples and spices.

The braised red cabbage with apples is a hot vegetable dish, slow-cooked for up to 2½ hours. The red cabbage and cranberries dish is hot too, sautéed fast in a wok.

FAQs

Do I need to salt the cabbage first?

No, Delia’s pickled red cabbage uses a no-salting method, so there is no salting or brining at all. For longer-keeping pickled onions she does salt them overnight first, then rinses and dries them, but that note is for onions only.

Which jars and lids should I use?

Proper preserving jars are best for pickled red cabbage, because they seal down with their own lids, Delia says. Saved jars are fine too, but the lids must be plastic-coated, since the vinegar in pickles can corrode metal. The 450g size is her usual guide, which is why this recipe fills five of them.

Never use paper or cellophane covers, she warns. The vinegar evaporates during long storage if a jar is not completely airtight.

How do I get the jars ready?

Wash the jars and lids for pickled red cabbage in warm, soapy water, then rinse them in warm water. Dry them well with a clean towel.

As an extra precaution, Delia puts the jars in a moderate oven for 5 minutes and fills them while they are very hot. A jar that once held pickled onions loses its smell overnight in cold water with a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda, she adds.

When can I eat it?

Pickled red cabbage needs about 2 months in the jars before you open the first one. A batch made in October gives a good supply for Christmas, Delia says, and another batch can follow after that.

How are her pickled onions different?

Her pickled onions use the same no-salting idea, but the pickling spice goes straight into the jars with the onions for a hot, spicy flavour. They take 2.1kg of pickling onions, 25g of pickling spice and 1.8 litres of malt vinegar, packed into four 1-litre jars.

She keeps them for at least 8 weeks but no more than 3 months before eating. They are just the thing with strong Cheddar, real bread, real ale or home-made sausage rolls, she says. Shallots can be pickled the same way.