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Fermented Curtido

This spicy & tart slaw is easy and healthy to make. Serve as a side dish, on tacos, fish or meat.
Course Side Dish
Cuisine El Salvadorian
Author Chef Ernest Miller

Ingredients

Curtido ingredients

  • 1 3/4 pound cabbage shredded (white, purple, Savoy, or Napa)
  • 1/2 pound carrot julienned or grated
  • 1/2 red onion julienned
  • 1 jalapeno chile minced (remove seeds if you prefer)
  • 3/4 ounce salt canning, pickling, kosher or sea salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
  • 1 lime juiced

Brine

  • 1 ounce salt canning, pickling, kosher or sea salt
  • 1 quart water

Instructions

  1. To make brine, mix salt and water, stir and set aside.
  2. Discard outer leaves of cabbage. Rinse under cold running water and drain. Cut in quarters and remove core. Shred or slice in 1/4″ slivers.
  3. Put cabbage in a mixing bowl and toss with the remaining ingredients. With clean hands, pack the cabbage mixture firmly into your clean 1.5 liter fermentation jar until salt draws juices from the cabbage. Be sure the jar is filled to the “max” line, but no higher. Place your clean, notched weighting jar on the cabbage and press down. This weight is to force water out of the cabbage and then keep the cabbage submerged under the brine. If juice does not cover the cabbage, add brine and replace weighting jar. Seal your jar. Gently twist the airlock into place and fill the airlock with brine to the fill line. Set on your counter out of sunlight.
  4. Curtido will be finished in 5 days when stored at 70° to 80° F or in 7 to 9 days, when storing at 60° to 65° F. You may allow your curtido to ferment longer, if you wish. Remove curtido from the fermentation jar and store in a covered container in the refrigerator for several months.

Recipe Notes

Caution: If the curtido becomes soft, slimy or develops a disagreeable odor, discard.

To ensure accuracy, the salt should be weighed instead of being measured by volume.