Sooooooo, these aren’t necessarily the best of the best pickles I’ve ever made … but I’m really excited about this purple cauliflower, so I kind of have to write about them anyway.
I mean, seriously. look at this: and when you make these pickles, it does this: (The brine was initially been kind of yellow. I made them and then opened the fridge a few hours later and got really excited.)
I really like the finished product, but I actually felt like something was kind of missing something. More salt? More vinegar? Maybe some honey? I dunno. If you have a revelation, please tell me.
Usually I try to get recipes as close to perfect before I put them here, but since the ingredients were farmers’ market produce, I’m not sure if they will be there again when I go shopping today.
Either way, they’re fantastic snacks when it’s 108 degrees outside (like right now) and they’re really great served alongside some of the dinners we’ve been having during this hot weather.
One night we had homemade falafel, grilled eggplant, and butter lettuce topped with a feta-yogurt-cucumber sauce. Another night we had jerk chicken with white nectarine salsa, coconut rice and drunken black beans, all wrapped up in purple cabbage cups.
A few pieces of purple pickled cauliflower really escalated these meals up into the stratosphere.
I guess my goal is not just to have these pickles in the fridge, but a whole bunch of different icy cold crunchy vegetables…….
I just made a big batch of these pickled radishes, (which I’m crazy about and can’t stop eating — you should make some today!), and we have a jar of dilly beans in there too.
Then I’ve got a big jar of wild blackberry jam and another pot of homemade, homegrown grated horseradish from my sister-in-law’s farm.
We have a whole selection of good food in jars in there, which is terrific. Mainly because it’s 105 and I don’t want to go outside to the garden (or, god forbid, the grocery store), let alone actually turn on the stove to cook something.
When I think about how long it will take for the air-conditioning in my truck to start actually doing anything…….. it makes me want to crawl into the back of the fridge and eat cold pickles all day.
PURPLE CAULIFLOWER PICKLES, adapted from the White on Rice Couple’s recipe for Curry Cauliflower Pickles
Makes: 1 quart and 1 pint jar
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1/2 large head of purple cauliflower, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1/4 large red onion, sliced into thin wedges
- a few sprigs of fresh cilantro
- 1 jalapeno pepper, sliced into rounds
for the brine:
- 5 c. water
- 1 1/4 c. apple cider vinegar
- 2 tsp. curry powder
- 3 tsp. tamari
- 2 1/4” thick slices of fresh ginger
- 1 tsp. salt
- 2 tsp. sugar
Combine the ingredients for the brine in a nonreactive pot, and bring up to a simmer. Meanwhile, pack the vegetables and cilantro into the jars. Once the brine is simmering, pour it over the vegetables leaving about 1/2” headspace. Cover and refrigerate. The pickles will be best after about 5 days and will store in the fridge for up to a month.
