Curtido (Salvadoran Fermented Cabbage Slaw)

The same technique as sauerkraut pointed somewhere completely different — cabbage, carrot, onion and oregano, fermented only lightly so it stays bright and crunchy. It is what goes on a pupusa, and it is a good demonstration that lacto-fermentation is a method rather than a cuisine.

Ingredients

½ head green cabbage, shredded (about 600 g)

• 2 carrots, coarsely grated
• 1 small white onion, thinly sliced
• 1 jalapeño, sliced (optional)
• 1 Tbsp dried Mexican oregano
• Salt at 2.25% of the total vegetable weight (about 17 g)

Directions

1. Key ingredients

Cabbage, carrot, onion, oregano, salt.

1. Weigh everything together after shredding, then compute salt at 2.25% of that combined weight. Carrot and onion count — they hold water and they ferment too.
2. Salt and work it as for kraut, but less aggressively. You want the vegetables to release brine while still holding some structure; this is a slaw, not a collapse.
3. Pack and weight under the brine, airlock or loose lid.
4. Ferment SHORT: 3–5 days at room temperature is the point of this one. It should be lightly sour and still crisp. Then refrigerate.

Notes

PROVENANCE. Learned as the thing served with pupusas rather than from any written recipe; the proportions are mine.

A short ferment is the whole character. Take curtido to three weeks and you have made a Salvadoran-seasoned sauerkraut, which is fine but is not curtido. The bright, barely-sour, crunchy state is the target and it is why this is made in small batches and eaten quickly.

Many restaurant versions are vinegar-dressed rather than fermented — quicker, sharper, and a different food. Both are legitimate; this is the living one.

VARIATIONS: a little grated beet turns it pink; some cooks add sliced radish.