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Fermentation Atlas

Vegetables from El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua

Curtido (Salvadoran fermented cabbage relish)curtido

Shredded cabbage, carrot and onion are salted, seasoned with oregano and chilli, packed under their own brine and left to sour for a few days to two weeks. It is the slaw served with pupusas; many cooks make a quick vinegar version instead. Made in 6 steps over 4 days – 14 days. The longest step, ferment at cool room temperature, takes 4–14 days (Shockey K. and Shockey C. 2014). Lactic acid bacteria from the cabbage, Leuconostoc and Weissella first and Lactobacillus species later, as in other cabbage ferments does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step4–14 daysReported[shockey2014]Ferment at cool room temperature
AciditypH up to 4.6Set[snyder2020]Ferment at cool room temperature
Fully documentedVegetables4 days – 14 daysMore vegetablesMore from The Americas

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceA half-gallon jar from Kirsten and Christopher Shockey's book Fermented Vegetables. No tested extension recipe exists for fermented curtido; the University of Illinois Extension recipe is the unfermented vinegar version.
1 head (about 3½ lb)Green cabbage[shockey2014]
1Carrot, sliced[shockey2014]
½Onion, thinly sliced[shockey2014]
2 clovesGarlic, grated[shockey2014]
1 TbspDried oregano, crumbled[shockey2014]
2 tspChilli flakes[shockey2014]
¼ tsp, or to tasteGround cumin[shockey2014]
1–1½ TbspUnrefined sea salt · Start with 1 Tbsp and add a teaspoon more if needed[shockey2014]
Starterspontaneous

Total time across the recorded steps: 4 days – 14 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play

What changes: A cut line slices the cored cabbage into thin shreds

Step 1 of 6
Shred the cabbage and slice the carrot and onion
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Leuconostoc
Weissella first
Lactobacillus

Set aside a few clean outer leaves to cover the jar later. Output: shredded vegetables.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

What makes this one different

Curtido ferments like sauerkraut but with carrot, onion, oregano and chilli in the jar, and over days rather than weeks. A common quick version skips fermenting and dresses blanched cabbage with vinegar instead.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Vinegar curtidoCabbage blanched for 1 minute, then mixed with carrot, onion, oregano, salt, brown sugar, vinegar and water and chilled at least 2 hours; not fermented.

Safety

Fermented curtido follows the rules for any fermented vegetable. Keep it under brine and away from air, check that the pH falls steadily below 4.6, the critical limit that holds back Clostridium botulinum and kills pathogenic E. coli, then refrigerate it (Snyder et al.). The quick vinegar version is not fermented and goes into the refrigerator from the start.

Hazards the sources name: Escherichia coli O157:H7, killed as the pH falls; Clostridium botulinum, held back once the pH is below 4.6.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Claims that curtido comes from the Pipil or Lenca peoples have no source.

  1. [shockey2014] Shockey K. and Shockey C. 2014, Fermented Vegetables, Storey Publishing; curtido recipe as reprinted by Mountain Feedbook
  2. [illinois-curtido] University of Illinois Extension, Curtido salvadoreño (cabbage salad), vinegar recipegov
  3. [snyder2020] Snyder A., Breidt F., Andress E.L. and Ingham B.H. 2020, Manufacture of traditionally fermented vegetable products, best practice for small businesses and retail food establishments, Food Protection Trends 40(4), 251–263paper