From Ground To Plate: Homemade Coleslaw

To celebrate the end of our AmeriCorps term, the team went on a retreat to Baker Camp along Lake Sebago. Many of us visited the garden earlier in the week to harvest vegetables and make delectable dishes for us to devour on the retreat! The first dish I decided to make was coleslaw.

The ingredients for this dish were:

8 cups cabbage, finely chopped

1/4 cup carrot, shredded

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/4 cup milk

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup buttermilk

1 1/2 tablespoons white vinegar

2 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice

My work began by harvesting the cabbage and the carrots from the garden.

Next, I had to prepare these ingredients, which was a task greater than I had anticipated. The recipe requires that the cabbage need to be finely chopped to about the size of a grain of rice. Unfortunately, I do not own a food processor that can easily cut the cabbage. To accomplish this, I had to cut up the cabbage and then place small amounts in the blender to mince. This process took almost 2 hours, to make 8 cups of cabbage and this required most of the two heads of cabbage.

To chop the carrots, I peeled them and then placed the thin strips of carrot in the blender. I thought that I would have more than enough carrots, but instead there was just barely enough. While I thought the carrots were ready to be harvested, some of the carrots were soft to the touch and not firm enough to peel. I think that if they had been in the ground just a little bit longer they would have had time to grow stronger and firm up.

Once these ingredients were prepared, it was smooth sailing. In a salad bowl, combine the sugar, salt, pepper, milk, mayonnaise, buttermilk, vinegar, and lemon juice. Beat the mixture until smooth. Then add the cabbage and carrots, mix well, and then cover and refrigerate.

I also decided to add a twist to this recipe. I added a handful of raisins to the coleslaw to make it sweeter and balance out the bite of the sauce. I think it was a good touch.

Despite my lack of cooking skills, this came out really delicious and everyone liked it! I definitely want to use this recipe again, but before I tackle this again I will make sure to have a food processor handy!