Cauliflower: Pickled.

A couple of months ago I was expressing a desire for cauliflower pickles which I only half assuaged with a jar of Pickled Carrots. I couldn't find anything to buy in France and in England, well, I've been so disappointed with commercial pickles that I can't bring myself to part with the money. But the need is still strong.

There were some excellent cauliflowers available last time I went to the SuperU so I decided to bite the bullet and be good to myself.

Surfing the web to see what's on offer there by way of recipes I found that
Alice Waters an American cook and restaurateur of some renown has published a recipe for Cauliflower Pickles in Tarragon Vinegar so to forestall any accusations of plagiarism I'm sure Alice would be the first to agree with me that her basic method is in fact the standard pickling system used since long before Mrs. Beeton and applicable to all. Why she chose tarragon vinegar we may never know but my reason was prosaic. I had a bottle that was destined for my son but forgotten by his Dad on his way through my kitchen. Seemed a pity to waste it.



The herby thing pushing between the jars is tarragon in my garden.

For these two jars of pickles, take one large but not enormous firm young cauliflower (quiet at the back!) wash it well and divide it up into lovely neat pieces. Make them small enough to pack tightly in the jar or you'll have a lot of vinegar for not much pickle. And they're easier to eat that way.

When the cauliflower is prepared pack your clean and sterile jars with the florets, then fill the jars with vinegar - like I said I used tarragon vinegar but cider vinegar is fine, make sure it's at least 5% strong. This odd step is just to estimate your vinegar needs and in fact I used about 800ml if you want to skip this part.

Tip the vinegar into a non metallic saucepan, add two teaspoonsful of salt, some mustard seed (try three teaspoons), a couple of cloves of garlic cleaned and halved, half a dozen peppercorns and the thing I was missing, coriander seed; a couple of teaspoons of that too. Throw in a bay leaf, a chilli or both if you like. Bring this to the boil and then drop in all the cauliflower. You'll need more than filled the jars raw because it shrinks a bit as it cooks. Simmer for a couple of minutes, you want to keep the vegetable crisp but make sure it's sterilised by that steaming brine.

Scoop the cauliflower out and pack it tightly into your jars. Pop the garlic and other large seasonings in amongst the florets, then bring the juice back to a good boil and pour it into the jars to cover the cauliflower completely. Make sure the small spices are divided evenly as you do this. If there's not enough vinegar to cover, just boil up a little more. On with the vinegar proof lids and you're done.

Observant readers will notice that one jar is clear and the other jar is yellow. I couldn't decide whether to make the pickles yellow or not, there's some precedence in history but it might be a bit tacky in today's stripped down society. Anyway, after I filled one jar I put a pinch of turmeric in the vinegar that was left and then filled the other.

Store in a cool dark place for three weeks or so before eating and refrigerate after opening.