Exploding cabbages

Actually they haven't exploded - they are just splitting open and when I left one for a couple of days it seemed to be growing a new shoot out from the split.  Maybe going to seed, I'm not sure.  My English vegetable growing book says to lift them mid-winter and store in a cool place but the Spanish seed packet says to leave them in the ground until needed.  They aren't splitting because they're huge and have burst, some are fairly small but have still split.  It could be the end of the growing season and fairly normal so today I have taken out the biggest six, shredded and salted them and tomorrow I am going to pickle them.  Various recipes in various books and on-line using just vinegar, a sweet vinegar or a spiced vinegar so I will probably do a few jars of each and see which we like best.  A lot will depend on what we eat it with, personally I like it with shepherds pie  and  pasties and I'm not sure a spiced vinegar which includes chillis is quite what I want.  It's easy to add chilli  to your meal but not to remove it!

Very slow 9-fingered typing this afternoon - sliced a chunk off my finger while shredding the cabbages and have a large white bandage on the end of my middle finger, right hand.  For those that touch type, you'll understand that i,  k and the comma are almost impossible!