It’s time to break out the recipes that make you go hmmmm….
One of the things that helped foster my dislike for Jell-o (other than old church ladies who put mayonnaise on it instead of Cool-Whip) was the meat gelatin I ate while visiting a friend in Poland for Easter. It was layers of vegetables and meat and hardboiled eggs ensconced in gelatin. There was some sort of sauce to put on top. I’m sure it’s fancy gourmet food. At another time in my life, in another place, it might’ve been amazing. At that point in time, however, it was just not my thing. 
When we read literature about Russia and Poland, we think of foods like cabbage rolls and borscht. (See what I did there? Linked the two thoughts) Cold weather vegetables that store well. Which makes this whole recipe make a lot more sense. So put on your fur coat, study up on a little Boris and Natasha and get ready for this recipe.
I did not pickle any beets this year. (Or really any other year, although I think I have a recipe for pickled beets that I should make.) We resorted to buying a jar of pickled beets at the grocery store. The girl was being extra helpful and tried to unload the grocery cart. Despite warning her, she dropped a full jar of pickled beets on the unyielding tile floor of the grocery store. Nothing like the smell of vinegar and embarrassment. 
As you get to the point of finely slicing cabbage, just grate it in the food processor like the onion. I can never slice cabbage thinly enough for my own taste. I even have some decent knives (that might need to be sharpened), but I still can’t get it to the point I like it. Maybe I just find thick cabbage or something? If you don’t do this, you will end up with the mess that I got. 
Zippy Beet Salad could actually be good. I mean, yeah, it’s weird, there is no getting around that. But the thing that threw it off most was the cabbage. It was long and stringy and there was a lot of it. More than there should be for the small amount of gelatinized beet juice.
You will notice from the pictures that I tried to mold this salad. My darling Mother-in-Law sent me her favorite Jell-o mold. It didn’t work so well for me on this recipe. I ‘d try it again with one of those creamy salads with things like crushed pineapple and marshmallows. But you can see the star on the top. 
If you don’t like beets, this will probably not be the dish that will change your mind about it. If you do…try it. It’s not the worst thing you’ll put in your mouth.
Having had this salad in my youth, I can tell you that the cabbage is more like a fine grind in modern usage. It was shredded on a box grater on the sm
small side. It sort of disappeared into the gelatin. I’m sure you would like the texture better. It has more of a crunch than string. It really isn’t bad. The mayo and greens improve the appearance tremendously.
I have some fermented beets with basil in my fridge I made this past fall. I should give this a try using them. I will probably be the only one eating it. Dan is not a beet fan but I love them!
Wait?!? Dan doesn’t eat beets? He’ll eat soup straight from the can, but won’t eat beets?
I’m intrigued by Holley’s comment. It sounds like a lot of work to grate cabbage using the small side of a grater
It probably was. But I find that most of these gelatin recipes take a lot longer than I’d expect.