Pickled Cauliflower

So, yesterday was "single jar" pickling day. What is "single jar" pickling day, you may ask? It is the day that I decide to take odds and ends that I don't have enough of to really do much with, that are "pickleable" and pickle them, before they go bad. I call it "single jar" because it is usually enough stuff for one large jar of a pickle mix of some sort. This batch contains cauliflower, black olives, sweet onion and a few baby carrots.

So I began by toasting my pickling spices until I could smell them....but not burn them. I then added 4+ cups of white vinegar, about 4 cups of sugar and a cup of water. Of course, you can do this to taste OR use your favorite pickle brine...sweet or savory. 

While the sugar was melting, I broke apart the florets into bite sized pieces, cut the sweet onion into bite sized pieces, and put in a layer of cauliflower then a layer of onion and olive. I continue the pattern till all was gone. I then poked in 3 leaves from my allspice trees (optional) and also poked in a few baby carrots I had found in the fridge. 

Next, pour the pickling mixture over the veggies. And that was it. I wanted to make sure everything was covered, but because the veggies kept floating up, I took a heavy plastic ramekin, set it on top of the veg, put some brine in it to give it some weight, and that kept everything from floating to the top. Place the cover on the jar and let sit in the fridge for at least 1-2 weeks. When ready to eat, the ramekin can be removed (you won't need it at that point.)

 Because these are one offs, and I put the jar directly in the fridge when it cooled, I did not need to go through the canning process, except for the clean jar. If you plan on just putting your jar on the shelf, then you will need to go through the full canning process, for safety.