A bit of nostalgia, courtesy of our garden

Is there a specific food or dish that reminds you of your childhood? I think everyone does. For me, growing up in an Eastern-European family in the Midwest, we always had some sort of cabbage. Often it was in the form of sauerkraut or boiled and the leaves rolled around ground meat and rice, which we called “golumpki.” Those are both great dishes that have been made in my family for generations and were present at all the important holiday gatherings. But the one cabbage dish that most reminds me of being a kid is sweet and sour red cabbage.

So how lucky was I when I walked around our test garden yesterday and saw, right in the middle of the wave, a big head of red cabbage? I brought it in, cleaned it up, chopped it well, and threw it into a large pot.

I also put in:

1/2 yellow onion, sliced

1 1/2 cups water

3/4 cup cider vinegar

1/2 cup sugar

3 tbsp. butter

1 tsp. kosher salt

1/2 tsp. black pepper

1 tsp. cumin seeds

1 bay leaf

I let it simmer, covered, until the cabbage was tender and the flavors had blended, about 45 minutes.

Now if only we grew sausage in our garden.