Hoping & Preserving.

I recently attempted my first ever venture into chutney and sauerkraut and I've never been more nervous of a result...

Having some leftover red cabbage and not really knowing what to do with it, I decided that it might be nice to attempt a red cabbage sauerkraut. Never having experimented with this before, I decided to use the simplest recipe that I could find. It also came with a little traditional, family story, which I completely bought into and imagined little jars of purple, pickled joy. I made no edits to the recipe at all, apart from using red cabbage as opposed to any other type of brassica oleracea. I'll be honest, I'm not actually a big sauerkraut fan, but I'm hoping making it myself will give me a new sense of enthusiasm to lead my taste buds into parade. If not, Alex will eat it. He likes anything vaguely German; I'm looking forward to becoming some sort of object of magic and worship once I start making my own sausages. After waiting what seemed like forever for the fairies to make cabbage in boiling water into something special, I cracked open the first jar with anticipation- and by golly, it was actually good! a lovely, sweet taste and not too vinegary. It's particularly fabulous on an oatcake with either strong cheddar or feta. I'm very pleased. More leftover cabbage will be going this way.

I am less optimistic about my rather anaemic looking marrow chutney. I probably should have done more research, other than reading a couple of recipes and deciding I could probably make it up as I went along. I haven't tasted it yet, I was hoping the colour might deepen if left alone, plus I hate disappointment, and I'm fairly sure it's coming. I'm going to assume that I didn't use enough sugar, hance the pale complexion. Once I'm brave enough, I'll update on the taste. Don't expect much.