Sour Cabbage

Sour cabbage differs from sauerkraut in that it sits only long enough to sour, not ferment, and so is easier to prepare. Sour cabbage salad is practically an institution in Russia, garnishing meals at both lunch and dinner. Here I must break the taboo against mentioning unappetizing food in cookbooks, for sour cabbage, as prepared in all too many institutional cafeterias, can be truly dismal. At its best, the salad is tart and refreshing. One learns early on either to develop a taste for it