Pickled Cabbage Slaw - Southern Comfort

Taking a note from last years Chow Down Pickled Cabbage I wanted to add a few other veggies in small quanitites to this already incredible pickled cabbage. The addition of carrots, red onions, and red and yellow bell peppers in 1/2 cup quantities made this now more of a slaw. I did not add any spices to this recipe but you could add 1/4 t. of mustard seed, fennel seed, celery seed, or coriander seed for some additional flavor.

Pickled Cabbage Slaw

3 medium heads white cabbage - cored and shredded
1/4 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup each julienned - carrots, red onions, red and yellow bell peppers
1 each serano, jalapeno, and banana pepper - diced (optional)
3 cups water
4 cups white vinegar
3 1/2 cups sugar

Pre-Prep: In a bowl put in the cabbage and cover with salt. Toss and set aside for minimum two hours to overnight in the fridge so that the salt will soften the cabbage. You do not need to salt the other julienne veggies.

Preparation : Prepare 6 pint jars, lids, and rings. Sterilize the jars and keep them in the hot water till its time for processing. Make sure to fill your water bath canner and get the water to a simmer.

After salting rinse the cabbage twice to remove as much salt as possible. In a large bowl combine the now rinsed cabbage with the other julienne vegetables. Mix well so they are evenly distributed. 

Cooking: In a stainless steel or enameled dutch heat water, vinegar, sugar. Heat to a simmer until the sugar is dissolved. Add the cabbage/veggie combo to the brine, stir once and with a slotted spoon put the cabbage/veggie back into the original bowl. You are just getting them hot. Ladle the veggies into jars.

Filling the jars:  On a dishtowel place your hot jars in a semi circle leaving room for your pot that has your cabbage mix.  Using your funnel in each jar ladle/tong the mixture into the jars leaving 1” headspace.  After all the cabbage is in the jars bring over the pot that contains the hot brine. Ladle the hot brine (vinegar, sugar, water mix) over the cabbage slaw and fill to ½” headspace. Remove air bubbles and refill to the proper headspace if necessary. Taking a clean papertowel wet it with warm water and wipe the rims of the jars removing any food particles that would interfere with a good seal. Using your magic wand extract the lids from the hot water and place them on the now cleaned rims. Add your rings to the tops of each of the jars and turn to seal just "finger tight". 

Processing: Make sure your rack is on the bottom of the canner and place the jars in the water bath making sure that the water covers each of the jars by 1 to 2 inches. Add hot water to the canner if it doesn't measure up. Cover the pot and turn up the heat under the canner and wait for the water to start boiling. Once the water has come to a boil start your timer for 15 minutes. When complete turn off the heat and remove the cover and let the jars sit for another few minutes. Remove the jars and place them back on the dishtowel in a place that they will sit overnight to cool. Do not touch or move them till the next morning.

Sealing: Some time in the next hour your jars will be making a "pinging" or "popping" noise. That is the glass cooling and the reaction of the lids being sucked into the jar for proper sealing. Some recipes may take overnight to seal. Check your lids and reprocess any jars that did not seal.