Sweet and Sour Cauliflower Pickle

A tangy, spicy, crispy pickle that is great as part of a winter antipasto spread. Also good as part of a summer salad selection table.

This is a lab-tested recipe from Canadian Living.

The recipe

Jar size choices: half-litre (1 US pint / 500 ml/ 16 oz) OR 1 litre (US quart / 32 oz)

Processing method: Water bath or steam canning

Yield: 4 x 1 litre (US quart) jars

Headspace: 2 cm (½ inch)

Processing time: Either size jar 15 minutes

4.34 from 3 votes

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Sweet and Sour Cauliflower Pickle

Yield: 4 x 1 litre jars (US quart)

Course Pickles

Cuisine American

Keyword Cauliflower

Prep Time 45 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes

Yield 4 1 litre jars (US quart)

Calories 45 kcal

Ingredients

• 300 g pearl onions (10 oz)
• 150 g banana peppers (5 oz. Weight measurements before prep. About 4 peppers about 10 cm / 4 inches each in length before prep.)
• 400 g red peppers (sweet, such as Bell. 14 oz. Weight measurements before prep. That's 2 medium bell peppers before prep.)
• 1.25 kg cauliflower (2.5 to 3 lbs. Weight measurements before prep. About 12 cups of small florets after prep.)
• 2 tablespoons coriander seed (⅓ oz / 10 g)
• 500 ml water (2 cups / 16 oz)
• 1.25 litre cider vinegar (5% or higher. 5 cups / 40 oz)
• 4 tablespoons salt (OR non-bitter, non-clouding salt sub)
• 300 g sugar (white. 1 ⅓ cups / 10 oz) OR 1 ½ teaspoons liquid stevia
• 4 tablespoons mustard seed (1.25 oz / 40 g)
• bay leaves
• cloves (whole)
• garlic (peeled cloves)
• Pickle Crisp (optional)

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

1. Peel the onions, put in a very large mixing bowl.
2. Wash, stem and seed the banana peppers. cut into thick rings 2 to 3 cm (1 inch) wide. Add to bowl.
3. Wash, stem and seed the sweet peppers. Cut into chunks. Add to bowl.
4. Wash the cauliflower. Cut off leaves and stalk. Cut into small florets; wash again. Drain well, add to bowl.
5. Set bowl aside.
6. Get a large pot and put on the stove top. Add the coriander seed, and toast it for a few minutes until it just starts to darken and release a bit of scent.
7. Add everything from the water down to and including the mustard seed. Stir well, then bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer and let simmer for 3 minutes.
8. Turn heat off.
9. Pack veg into the jars you are using to within 3 cm (1 inch) of the top of the jar. That will tell you how many jars you are using.
10. In each 1 litre (US quart) jar put 2 bay leaves, 2 cloves, 2 cloves garlic, and ¼ teaspoon pickle crisp (optional.) (Half that for the half-litre / US pint jars.)
11. Using a ladle, divvy the pickling solution out amongst the jars to within 2 cm (½ inch) headspace.
12. If you are short of solution, zap some additional cider vinegar in microwave for 2 minutes to heat it, then use that to top up.
13. Don't worry about all the seed ending up on top; as you debubble, they will get pushed down.
14. Debubble.
15. Process either size jar for 15 minutes.
16. Let stand at least a week before opening.

Reference information

How to water bath process.

How to steam can.

When water-bath canning or steam canning, you must adjust the processing time for your altitude.

For salt substitute, Herbamare Sodium-Free was used.

For stevia, Better Stevia liquid stevia was the stevia used.

More information about Sugar and Salt-Free Canning in general.

Australia and New Zealand vinegar strength special notes.

Reference notes

• To be clear, you don’t blanch any of the veg.
• Don’t try with cauliflower that has previously been frozen; the texture will come out too soft.
• Instead of pearl onion, you can use an equivalent amount of chunks of regular onion, or the bulbs of green (aka spring) onions.
• Instead of banana peppers, you can use another not-so-hot chile pepper. Banana peppers are known for being more sweet and tangy, than hot.
• Instead of sweet peppers that are red, you can use any colour that is convenient.
• Be prepared with another 250 ml (1 cup / 8 oz) of cider vinegar that you can quickly zap for 2 minutes in microwave, if needed to top up jars. If you have gone to more than 4 jars, you will surely need it.
• No, the mustard seed is not too much. Somehow in this recipe is is all very mild and just right.

Recipe source

Sweet and Sour Cauliflower Pickle. In: Canadian Living Test Kitchen. The Complete Preserving Book. Montreal, Canada: Transcontinental Books. 2012. Page 154.

Note: The recipe says you will get 3 x 1 litre (US quart) jars, but we found you will get 4 to 5 such jars. It will really just depend how large your head of cauliflower was, as well as how big your florets and pepper chunks etc, are.

Modifications made:

• Suggested pearl onion alternative;
• Suggested salt and sugar subs.

Safety Check

This Sweet and Sour Cauliflower has a pH of 3.76, tested using 25 g solids, 50 ml distilled water. Well below upper safety cut-off of 4.6 pH. (Note the white storage caps from Ball / Bernardin splitting!)

Nutrition information

Regular version

Per ½ cup (100 g / 3 oz):

• 63 calories, 126 mg sodium

Sugar and salt-free version

Per ½ cup (100 g / 3 oz):

• 45 calories, 18 mg sodium
• Weight Watchers PointsPlus®: 1 point

* Nutrition info provided by https://caloriecount.about.com

* PointsPlus™ calculated by healthycanning.com. Not endorsed by Weight Watchers® International, Inc, which is the owner of the PointsPlus® registered trademark.

* Better Stevia ® is a registered trademark of the NOW Foods Company.

* Herbamare ® is a registered trademark of the A. Vogel Corporation.