Canned Coleslaw

I’ve already mentioned that I canned about 20 pints of coleslaw the other day. Vince had this kind of sweet and sour coleslaw at a restaurant and loved it. When I tasted it, I told him “I’ve canned that before” but I don’t think he believed me. I opened a jar of it last night with our beans and Vince was shocked that the cabbage was crunchy and tasted like we had at the restaurant.

This is the recipe I use. This is canned using the water bath canning method so any of you who want to try your hand at canning, if this recipe looks good to you, it might be a good one to start with.

Of course, there are things I do differently.

• I do not heat my jars in the oven. I never have . . never in my years of canning. I will pour boiling water over them and let them sit.
• I do not mix the cabbage in with the brine and then spoon it all into the jars. I made such a sticky mess the one time I tried that. I pack the shredded cabbage mix into the jars, then pour the brine over the cabbage in the jars.
• I used four smallish medium heads of cabbage and instead of 4 x the brine mixture, I did 8 x except, instead of 16 cups of sugar, I used about 12 cups. It sounds like a ton but we’re not drinking the brine – just giving the cabbage the flavor. No doubt it isn’t a recipe for those on a low sugar diet.

I put the jar for last night in the fridge for a few hours so the slaw was cold. So refreshing and delicious with the beans and rice.