My grandma picked up a pair massive, stunning, natural cauliflower heads from the marketplace the opposite day. She determined that one used to be greater than sufficient for herself and proficient me one. We adore roasting greens in our family, and cauliflower is our favourite roasted veggie. The pinnacle she gave us used to be so massive that when roasting a whole cookie sheet of cauliflower, I nonetheless had extra left over, so I determined to ferment it and make some pickled cauliflower.
Fermented cauliflower is scrumptious—it helps to keep its crunch and absorbs flavors smartly. I shared a fermented garlicky cauliflower with turmeric recipe a pair years in the past, in addition to a fermented giardiniera recipe. They’re each on my continuously made checklist, even after just about a decade.
This recipe is an adaptation of a pickled cucumber, substituting cauliflower as a substitute of pickling cucumbers. The dilly taste makes this ferment nice for reducing into salads, blending into tuna or simply consuming as a wholesome pickle at the aspect of a meal.
Yield: 1 quart jar
Components
- 3 1/2 cups cauliflower florets (about one small head of cauliflower)
- 2 garlic cloves, overwhelmed
- 2 sprigs of unpolluted dill
- 1 tsp. complete yellow mustard seed
Brine
- 1 tbsp. coarse kosher salt dissolved in 2 cups of water
Directions
Wash cauliflower and minimize florets into uniform bite-sized items in order that it ferments frivolously. Pack elements right into a blank quart jar, starting with the mustard seeds, garlic, then dill and in any case cauliflower.
Combine the brine elements in combination and pour the brine over the produce till the whole thing is totally submerged. Remember to depart 1 to two inches of headspace from the brine degree to the rim of the jar.
When you have a small fermentation jar weight, upload it to the jar to stay the pickled cauliflower elements utterly submerged beneath the brine. Take away any small items of cauliflower that go with the flow as much as the highest of the brine.
Fermentation
This can be a six-day ferment. Ferment at room temperature, preferably between 60 and 75 levels F (15 to 23 levels C), and stay out of direct daylight. Test at the ferment day by day to ensure the brine remains over the produce. This can be a a very powerful step in all vegetable fermentation, as any produce above the brine is at risk of mildew.
If the produce is above the brine, use a blank utensil to push the produce go into reverse underneath the brine. Burp the jar day by day—unscrew the lid in brief and tighten it again on to permit any built-up fuel to liberate (and steer clear of jar breakage). That is an energetic ferment. Foam-like effervescent after an afternoon or two is completely commonplace and an indication that issues are fermenting alongside, simply as they will have to be.
After six days, style take a look at the fermented cauliflower to decide whether it is fermented sufficient and that it has reached your ultimate taste. If the cauliflower tastes because it does within the uncooked shape, it would be best to ferment an afternoon or two longer and style take a look at once more. As soon as the cauliflower pickles are bitter and filled with taste, switch the jar into the fridge, with the brine and all.
The pickled cauliflower ferment will ultimate just about indefinitely, alternatively the feel and taste will proceed to modify. Fermentation does no longer forestall as soon as refrigerated, it simply slows manner down. This ferment is very best loved inside of six months.
Facet Notes
If you happen to don’t have a pitcher jar weight, you’ll improvise via the use of an simply detachable small food-grade glass dish that matches throughout the jar. Or, when you’ve got a smaller glass canning jar that may have compatibility into the mouth of the jar you might be fermenting with, you’ll use that to stay the produce driven beneath the brine.
In case you are undecided in case your water is protected for fermentation, you’ll boil it and make allowance it to chill to room temperature earlier than including within the salt to make your brine.
Chances are you’ll use high-quality sea salt as a substitute of coarse kosher salt should you choose. Simply alter the recipe to one 1/4 tbsp. high-quality sea salt.
This recipe has been tailored from Can It & Ferment It (2017) with permission from Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.