This is much nicer than normal sauerkraut which I usually find is too vinegary. The secret is in the brown sugar, but the sweetness of the raisins and the apple also help, and so too does the unorthodox addition of the sweet spices – the nutmeg and cinnamon.

The cabbage is slow cooked so it becomes rather comfortingly mushy – a good alternative to potato.

If you want to make it a bit more like an authentic sauerkraut (still without the sourness) you could add some dry-fried caraway seeds.

Although it needs a long time in the oven, it takes hardly any time to prepare.

Recipe for braised cabbage with apple and nutmeg

Serves 6

Ingredients

• 250g/8 oz/½ a medium white cabbage – shredded
• 1 medium cooking apple – chopped and peeled
• 1 red onion – peeled and chopped
• 3 fat cloves garlic – crushed with 2 tsp smoked salt
• ¼ teasp ground cinnamon
• 2 tbsp soft brown sugar
• 1 teasp ground nutmeg (the GEFU nutmeg mill is the best to have)
• 2 tbsp cider vinegar
• 10 grinds Indonesian long pepper
• couple of walnuts of butter
• 1 tbsp raisins or currants – or even better, chopped dried cranberries

Method

1. Make the braised cabbage – heat the oven to 140°C.
2. Put the apple, onions and garlic into a large casserole with a couple of walnuts of butter – fry briefly.
3. Add the cabbage and about ten generous grinds of the pepper (about 4 corns ground in a pestle and mortar). Also add the cinnamon and nutmeg and a tbsp brown sugar.
4.Then add the vinegar and get the liquid bubbling, put on lid, and put the casserole in the oven (aga simmering oven) for a couple of hours.

^{This post is dedicated to Brigitte Chalke.}

Listen to the Stone’s Brown Sugar as you chop your cabbage and add the sticky soft sweetener.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fmfi3UbDPnQ]