SWEET AND PICKLED SLAW RECIPE

I am so excited to begin a new blog series for you which I have created in collaboration with 'buywholefoodsonline'.

The team there kindly sent me a box of surprise items that I would have to create recipe's out of. Some I had used before and some I had not. Some I even had to research what they were before I could do anything with; and pickling spice was one.

Pickling is said to be the process of preserving or extending the lifespan of food by either anaerobic fermentation in brine or immersion in vinegar. Pickling spices can be added to this process to give the vegetables you've pickled an amazing flavour.

I remember posting this on my instagram and asking people what I could possibly make with it and someone sent me the idea and the steps to making pickled slaw. I was so glad because coleslaw is one of my absolute favourite condiments, but I rarely make it now because its too much effort sometimes to make a creamy plant based dressing.

I also thought slaw would be an amazing recipe to show you simply because it contains a variety of important vegetables that are key for healing the skin. Once these vegetables have been fermented, the good bacteria will help support your gut health and gut restoration.

The pickling spice I was sent from buywholefoodsonline contains the following ingredients.

• BAY LEAVES
• ALLSPICE BERRIES
• BIRD'S EYE CHILLIES
• BLACK PEPPERCORNS
• CLOVES
• GINGER ROOT
• CORIANDER SEEDS
• YELLOW MUSTARD SEEDS
• CRUSHED CASSIA CINNAMON

I've mentioned this before, but herbs an spices contain the highest nutritional value of any other food. So in addition to the nutrients you'll be getting from the fermented vegetables; the herbs and spices in the pickling mix will definitely give it an extra boost. Once your slaw is made it leaves your kilner jar a beautiful shade of pink as the colour from the red cabbage enters the vinegar.

This is such an easy condiment to prepare that will last for ages without worrying about vegetables going off.

If you decide to try this recipe; be sure to visit 'buywholefoodsonline' to use the same pickling spice featured in the post.

The first thing you need to do is get a pickling jar. I prefer to use kilner type jars because once it's shut no air can get into it.

The ingredients I used for the slaw are as follows but feel free to select the vegetables you like. Try selecting vegetables of different colours of the rainbow so you get the benefits of each colour fruit.

• RED CABBAGE
• WHITE CABBAGE
• SPRING ONION
• FENNEL
• RADISH
• CARROTS

The next thing you need to do is chop and grate all your vegetables. You'll have to chop the spring onions but if you have a food processor, you can put the rest of the vegetables in there and blitz them all really quickly.

Once the vegetables are all chopped up you can add them back in a bowl and put them to one side.

Now this is completely optional but you can add a TBSP of coconut sugar to your slaw to give it a little bit of sweetness. When I made the slaw for the first time, I did a jar with and without the sugar; and although they both taste really good, the one with sugar was better because it cut through the tartness of the vinegar.

Depending on how much coleslaw you're making, add 1 - 2 TBSP of pickling spice to the kilner jar and then carefully add the chopped vegetables on top.

When doing this, be sure to leave at least a 1-2cm gap between the veg and the top of the jar.

Next, add apple cider vinegar to the kilner jar, again leaving a small space at the top. At this point all you need to do is fasten the lid and shake the contents until all of your ingredients are well incorporated. You will know this is done when the pickling spice ingredients you added to the bottom of the jar is visible throughout the jar. You should also notice that the coconut sugar you added has been dissolved.

The final thing to do is to keep the jar of pickled vegetables in the fridge for a few days. This could be from 3-7 days, but as the vegetables are being preserved by the vinegar, you can eat this as and well for weeks after you've prepared it.