Coleslaw, sometimes simply called slaw in some American dialects, is a salad

Salad

Salad is any of a wide variety of dishes, including vegetable salads; salads of pasta, legumes, eggs, or grains; mixed salads incorporating meat, poultry, or seafood; and fruit salads. They may include a mixture of cold and hot, often including raw vegetables or fruits.Green salads include leaf...

 consisting primarily of shredded raw cabbage

Cabbage

Cabbage is a popular cultivar of the species Brassica oleracea Linne of the Family Brassicaceae and is a leafy green vegetable...

. It may also include shredded carrot

Carrot

The carrot is a root vegetable, usually orange in colour, though purple, red, white, and yellow varieties exist. It has a crisp texture when fresh...

s and other ingredients such as fruit

Fruit

In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...

s and vegetable

Vegetable

The noun vegetable usually means an edible plant or part of a plant other than a sweet fruit or seed. This typically means the leaf, stem, or root of a plant....

s, apples, onions, green onions, peppers and various spices.

History

The term "coleslaw" arose in the 18th century as an Anglicisation of the Dutch term "koolsla", a shortening of "koolsalade", which means "cabbage salad". It is originally from Ireland and was made at the end of the month from leftover vegetables and cream.

Variations

There are many variations of the recipe which include the addition of other ingredients, such as red cabbage

Cabbage

Cabbage is a popular cultivar of the species Brassica oleracea Linne of the Family Brassicaceae and is a leafy green vegetable...

, pepper

Bell pepper

Bell pepper, also known as sweet pepper or a pepper and capsicum , is a cultivar group of the species Capsicum annuum . Cultivars of the plant produce fruits in different colors, including red, yellow, orange and green. Bell peppers are sometimes grouped with less pungent pepper varieties as...

, onion

Onion

The onion , also known as the bulb onion, common onion and garden onion, is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Allium. The genus Allium also contains a number of other species variously referred to as onions and cultivated for food, such as the Japanese bunching onion The onion...

, grated cheese

Cheese

Cheese is a generic term for a diverse group of milk-based food products. Cheese is produced throughout the world in wide-ranging flavors, textures, and forms....

, pineapple

Pineapple

Pineapple is the common name for a tropical plant and its edible fruit, which is actually a multiple fruit consisting of coalesced berries. It was given the name pineapple due to its resemblance to a pine cone. The pineapple is by far the most economically important plant in the Bromeliaceae...

, or apple

Apple

The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...

, mixed with a salad dressing such as mayonnaise

Mayonnaise

Mayonnaise, , often abbreviated as mayo, is a sauce. It is a stable emulsion of oil, egg yolk and either vinegar or lemon juice, with many options for embellishment with other herbs and spices. Lecithin in the egg yolk is the emulsifier. Mayonnaise varies in color but is often white, cream, or pale...

. In the U.S. coleslaw often also contains buttermilk

Buttermilk

Buttermilk refers to a number of dairy drinks. Originally, buttermilk was the liquid left behind after churning butter out of cream. It also refers to a range of fermented milk drinks, common in warm climates where unrefrigerated fresh milk otherwise sours quickly...

 or mayonnaise

Mayonnaise

Mayonnaise, , often abbreviated as mayo, is a sauce. It is a stable emulsion of oil, egg yolk and either vinegar or lemon juice, with many options for embellishment with other herbs and spices. Lecithin in the egg yolk is the emulsifier. Mayonnaise varies in color but is often white, cream, or pale...

 substitutes, and carrot

Carrot

The carrot is a root vegetable, usually orange in colour, though purple, red, white, and yellow varieties exist. It has a crisp texture when fresh...

; although many regional variations exist, and recipes incorporating prepared mustard

Mustard (condiment)

Mustard is a condiment made from the seeds of a mustard plant...

 or vinegar

Vinegar

Vinegar is a liquid substance consisting mainly of acetic acid and water, the acetic acid being produced through the fermentation of ethanol by acetic acid bacteria. Commercial vinegar is produced either by fast or slow fermentation processes. Slow methods generally are used with traditional...

 are also common. Barbecue slaw, also known as red slaw and commonly found in the Piedmont

Piedmont (United States)

The Piedmont is a plateau region located in the eastern United States between the Atlantic Coastal Plain and the main Appalachian Mountains, stretching from New Jersey in the north to central Alabama in the south. The Piedmont province is a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian division...

 region of North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

, is made using ketchup and vinegar rather than mayonnaise.

A variety of seasoning

Seasoning

Seasoning is the process of imparting flavor to, or improving the flavor of, food.- General meaning :Seasonings include herbs and spices, which are themselves frequently referred to as "seasonings"...

s, such as celery seed, may be added. The cabbage may come in finely minced pieces, shredded strips, or small squares.

Coleslaw is generally eaten as a side dish

Side dish

A side dish, sometimes referred to as a side order or simply a side, is a food item that accompanies the entrée or main course at a meal.-Common types:...

 with foods such as barbecue

Barbecue

Barbecue or barbeque , used chiefly in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia is a method and apparatus for cooking meat, poultry and occasionally fish with the heat and hot smoke of a fire, smoking wood, or hot coals of...

, French fries

French fries

French fries , chips, fries, or French-fried potatoes are strips of deep-fried potato. North Americans tend to refer to any pieces of deep-fried potatoes as fries or French fries, while in the United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland and New Zealand, long, thinly cut slices of deep-fried potatoes are...

, and fried chicken

Fried chicken

Fried chicken is a dish consisting of chicken pieces usually from broiler chickens which have been floured or battered and then pan fried, deep fried, or pressure fried. The breading adds a crisp coating or crust to the exterior...

. It may also be used as a sandwich

Sandwich

A sandwich is a food item, typically consisting of two or more slices of :bread with one or more fillings between them, or one slice of bread with a topping or toppings, commonly called an open sandwich. Sandwiches are a widely popular type of lunch food, typically taken to work or school, or...

 ingredient, placed on barbecue sandwiches, hamburgers and hot dogs

Carolina style

Carolina style refers to an established set of condiments for hot dogs and hamburgers, originating in the Coastal Plain and Piedmont regions of North Carolina...

 along with chili

Chili con carne

Chili con carne is a spicy stew. The name of the dish derives from the Spanish chile con carne, "chili pepper with meat". Traditional versions are made, minimally, from chili peppers, garlic, onions, and cumin, along with chopped or ground beef. Beans and tomatoes are frequently included...

 and hot mustard. It is sometimes seen in delicatessens on variants of the Reuben sandwich

Reuben sandwich

The Reuben sandwich is a hot sandwich of layered meat, sauerkraut and Swiss cheese, with a dressing. These are grilled between slices of rye bread. The meat is either corned beef or pastrami, and the dressing is either Russian or Thousand Island dressing...

 - with coleslaw substituting for the sauerkraut and dressing, the meat being either pastrami or corned beef, and the sandwich commonly called "Rachel" instead of "Reuben" (also simply "Corned Beef Special"). A variation of coleslaw made with vinegar and oil is often served with pizza in Sweden.

A variation of coleslaw, cheese savoury, is popular in the northeast of England. It includes cheese, onion, and has salad cream

Salad cream

Salad cream is a creamy, yellow condiment based on an emulsion of about 25-50 percent of oil in water, emulsified by egg yolk and acidified by spirit vinegar, and with other ingredients which may include sugar, mustard, salt, thickener, spices, flavouring and colouring. It was introduced in the...

 instead of mayonnaise. Another variant, broccoli slaw

Broccoli slaw

Broccoli slaw is a variation of traditional coleslaw with shredded raw broccoli stalks substituted for cabbage. It may also contain mayonnaise, carrots, vinegar or lemon juice, sugar, salt and pepper. It is commonly served at potlucks or "covered dish" parties...

, uses shredded raw broccoli in place of the cabbage.

See also

Other slaws and similar dishes:

• Broccoli slaw
  Broccoli slaw
  Broccoli slaw is a variation of traditional coleslaw with shredded raw broccoli stalks substituted for cabbage. It may also contain mayonnaise, carrots, vinegar or lemon juice, sugar, salt and pepper. It is commonly served at potlucks or "covered dish" parties...
  
  
• Cheeslaw
  Cheeslaw
  Cheeslaw is a salad consisting of grated cheese, grated carrot and a mayonnaise dressing. The word is a portmanteau of the words cheese and coleslaw. Cheeslaw is very similar to some coleslaw recipes, but can be distinguished by the cheese in it. Cheeslaw may contain other vegetables, such as...
  
  
• Chow-chow
  Chow-chow
  Chow-chow is a Nova Scotian and American pickled relish made from a combination of vegetables. Mainly green tomato, cabbage, chayote, red tomatoes, onions, carrots, beans, asparagus, cauliflower and peas are used...
  
  
• Kimchi
  Kimchi
  Kimchi , also spelled gimchi, kimchee, or kim chee, is a traditional fermented Korean dish made of vegetables with varied seasonings. There are hundreds of varieties of kimchi made with a main vegetable ingredient such as napa cabbage, radish, green onions or cucumber. It is the most common...
  
  
• Sauerkraut
  Sauerkraut
  Sauerkraut , directly translated from German: "sour cabbage", is finely shredded cabbage that has been fermented by various lactic acid bacteria, including Leuconostoc, Lactobacillus, and Pediococcus. It has a long shelf-life and a distinctive sour flavor, both of which result from the lactic acid...
  
  
• Curtido
  Curtido
  Curtido is a type of cabbage relish, lightly fermented. It is typical of Mexican and Central American cuisine. In Salvadoran cuisine it is usually made with pickled cabbage, onions, carrots, and sometimes lemon juice and resembles sauerkraut, kimchi, or cole slaw. It is commonly served alongside...
  
  
• Suan cai
  Suan cai
  Suan cai , or in English, "sour vegetable", is a traditional Chinese pickled Chinese cabbage. It is used in a variety of ways...
  
  
• Pao cai
  Pao cai
  Pao cai is a type of pickle, usually pickled cabbage, often found in Chinese, and particularly Sichuanese cuisine. It is most common to northern and western China; however, there is also a unique form of pao cai, called suan cai, which is prominent in Northeast China.Chinese pao cai closely...