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Vegetables from El Salvador

Curtido (Salvadoran fermented cabbage relish)curtido

Shredded cabbage, carrot and onion are salted, seasoned with oregano and chilli, packed under their own brine and left to sour for a few days to two weeks. It is the slaw served with pupusas; a quick vinegar version that is not fermented also exists.

Fully documentedVegetables4 days – 14 days

Recipe

Curtido (Salvadoran fermented cabbage relish), a photo from Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Ll1324, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Amounts from a sourceA half-gallon jar from Kirsten and Christopher Shockey's book Fermented Vegetables. The University of Illinois Extension recipe is the unfermented vinegar version.
Green cabbage1 head (about 3½ lb)[shockey2014]
Carrot, sliced1[shockey2014]
Onion, thinly sliced½[shockey2014]
Garlic, grated2 cloves[shockey2014]
Dried oregano, crumbled1 Tbsp[shockey2014]
Chilli flakes2 tsp[shockey2014]
Ground cumin¼ tsp, or to taste[shockey2014]
Unrefined sea salt1–1½ TbspStart with 1 Tbsp and add a teaspoon more if needed[shockey2014]

Total time across the recorded steps: 4 days – 14 days

Start
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What changes: A cut line slices the cored cabbage into thin shreds

Step 1 of 6
Shred the cabbage and slice the carrot and onion
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Set aside a few clean outer leaves to cover the jar later. Output: shredded vegetables.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Shredded cabbage, carrot and onion are salted, seasoned with oregano and chilli, packed under their own brine and left to sour for a few days to two weeks. It is the slaw served with pupusas; a quick vinegar version that is not fermented also exists. Made in 6 steps over 4 days – 14 days. The longest step, ferment at cool room temperature, takes 4–14 days (Shockey K. and Shockey C. 2014).

Key numbers
Main step4–14 daysReported[shockey2014]Ferment at cool room temperature
AciditypH up to 4.6Reported[snyder2020]Ferment at cool room temperature

What makes this one different

Curtido ferments like sauerkraut but with carrot, onion, garlic, oregano and chilli in the jar. A quick version skips fermenting and dresses blanched cabbage with vinegar instead.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Vinegar curtidoCabbage blanched for 1 minute, then mixed with carrot, onion, oregano, salt, brown sugar, vinegar and water and chilled at least 2 hours; not fermented.

Safety

Fermented curtido follows the rules for any fermented vegetable. Keep it under brine and away from air, and check that the pH falls steadily below 4.6, the critical limit that holds back Clostridium botulinum. Discard a batch that does not get there. More than 2 % salt is an important safety factor, and this recipe gives salt only by the spoon, so weigh it. Fermentation is what kills pathogenic E. coli. In a sauerkraut study pathogens fell 5 log (100,000-fold) in the first 4 days at 18–22 °C. But E. coli can survive up to 2 weeks in commercial fermentation brine at 20 °C and a month or longer in acidified brine at 4 °C, so let the ferment finish, then refrigerate it (Snyder et al.). The quick vinegar version is not fermented and goes into the refrigerator from the start.

Hazards the sources name: Escherichia coli O157:H7 in traditionally fermented vegetables, not tested in curtido; it can survive up to 2 weeks in commercial fermentation brine at 20 °C; Clostridium botulinum in traditionally fermented vegetables, not tested in curtido; held back once the pH is below 4.6.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

History
The sources we found do not record its history.
Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
  1. [shockey2014] Shockey K. and Shockey C. 2014, Fermented Vegetables, Storey Publishing; curtido recipe as reprinted by Mountain Feedbook
  2. [illinois-curtido] University of Illinois Extension, Curtido salvadoreño (cabbage salad), vinegar recipegov
  3. [snyder2020] Snyder A., Breidt F., Andress E.L. and Ingham B.H. 2020, Manufacture of traditionally fermented vegetable products, best practice for small businesses and retail food establishments, Food Protection Trends 40(4), 251–263paper