8 Day Cabbage Slaw: Fresh & Flavorful

This 8-day cabbage slaw recipe comes straight from my mother’s well-worn notebook of handwritten recipes, one that’s more than 30 years old. Recipes like this always leave a little room for interpretation. Not every measurement is spelled out, and a few details are left to assumption. Nothing in that notebook is scientific or exact—and that’s part of its charm. Most of the time, I can tell exactly what she meant, but for a newer cook, it might take a bit of reading between the lines.

The Ingredients

Cabbage

Cabbage is one of those humble vegetables that shows up in so many classic recipes. Green cabbage is crisp, affordable, and easy to work with, while red cabbage adds a little extra color and bite. Both hold up beautifully whether eaten fresh or lightly cooked, which makes them perfect for slaws that are meant to last more than a day.

My challenge with most traditional cabbage slaws is that they’re usually dressed with mayonnaise. While delicious, those creamy slaws tend to overpower the freshness of the cabbage itself.

It had been years since I’d tasted my mother’s 8-day cabbage slaw. She passed away more than 20 years ago, but flipping through her notebook of handwritten recipes brought it all back. This one immediately caught my eye—no mayo, simple ingredients, and a vinegar-based dressing that lets the c

Cabbage From the Garden

Cabbage was always a staple in the garden when I was growing up. I can still picture being sent outside with a big knife to cut a head of cabbage. Once it was harvested, the outer leaves were peeled away and tossed aside, and the rest went straight to the kitchen.

Most often, that cabbage was used for slaw or cooked down with butter, salt, and pepper until tender. I was never a fan of cooked cabbage, but my husband absolutely loves it. And fair warning — if you decide to cook it, your whole house will know. 😊

Sauerkraut

When the cabbage really started coming in, it couldn’t be left in the garden too long. All the heads would be harvested at once, and my mother would slice them paper-thin to make sauerkraut.

I’ve never made sauerkraut myself, and I don’t remember every detail of the process, but looking back, it feels a little intimidating. The sliced cabbage was packed into a churn with salt. I don’t remember water being added at first—the cabbage and salt created their own liquid over time. A weight was placed on top to keep everything submerged, a towel was draped over the churn, and it was left to sit for weeks.

She checked it occasionally, probably to make sure nothing had gone wrong—though I’m not sure how you’d tell, since sauerkraut has a smell all its own! Once it was ready, she canned it in pint jars and stored it in the pantry.

When it came time to eat it, the kraut was simply heated in a skillet with a little bacon grease. Since it was already canned, it only needed to be warmed through. Our favorite way to eat it growing up was with sliced hot dogs mixed in. We still enjoy it that way occasionally. These days, I also love it on Reuben sandwiches or piled onto a good hot dog.

Back to the Slaw

I’ve always assumed Eight-Day Cabbage Slaw got its name because it would keep for several days in the refrigerator—much longer than a mayonnaise-based slaw. Don’t quote me on the exact number of days, but it just makes sense. Of course, any kind of slaw would never last that long at our house anyway. We’d eat it for a meal or two, and if there was any left after that, we were usually ready to move on. Do you do that too? These days, I try to cook smaller amounts so we don’t end up with leftovers we’re not excited about eating.

Putting it Together

This cabbage slaw is easy to make—it just takes a little time to grate the cabbage. You can use a box grater, food chopper, or food processor. Packaged slaw mix will work in a pinch, but freshly grated cabbage really does make a difference here.

The recipe calls for ½ a head of cabbage, and that’s where any sense of precision goes right out the window. Cabbage heads aren’t all the same size, so consider this more of a guideline than a hard rule. If your slaw seems too wet, just add a little more cabbage. If it looks a bit dry, drizzle in a little more oil.

Do the Chopping!

Chop the onion, bell pepper, and celery. I added a bit of red bell pepper for color and used a red onion this time. Next time, I’ll probably reach for a Vidalia instead—the red onion was just a little stronger than I prefer. Live and learn…that’s how these old handwritten recipes usually go.

The recipe calls for Wesson oil, but I didn’t have any on hand, so I used a regular store-brand vegetable oil instead. As for the vinegar, I honestly don’t know whether Mother used white or brown vinegar. What I remember most is that we usually just had plain brown vinegar in the house. White vinegar wasn’t something we kept around for cleaning back then, and apple cider vinegar certainly wasn’t a pantry staple. It was simple, everyday ingredients — and they worked just fine.

I used apple cider vinegar in my cabbage slaw, though I honestly don’t know that it makes a huge difference which vinegar you use. In a pinch, lemon juice can work if you don’t have vinegar on hand. Just keep in mind—lemon juice isn’t a substitute for vinegar when it comes to things like pickling or canning.

Onion

8 Days?

Well, I didn’t get a chance to see if the cabbage slaw would last eight days or not. It was gone in just a couple of days.

Next Time

What I’ll do differently the next time I make cabbage slaw will be to substitute Swerve Granular for the sugar to reduce the calories a bit, and instead of using a red onion, I’ll use a sweet onion like a Vidalia. I’ll chop the onion by hand too. I used a food processor to chop the onion, peppers, and celery and they were all a little bit juicy.

Do you have a favorite cabbage slaw recipe? Please share if you do!