Homestead Pickling Guide: Pickled Cauliflower Recipe
Discover the joys of making homemade pickles in the summer with fresh garden vegetables! Your family will love these basic pickles recipes!
Summertime brings us the freshest produce of the year. Now is the time to put up some of the bounty for the cold winter days! Pickled cauliflower, cucumbers, and peaches? Yes, please!
Homestead Pickling Guide
Pickling is a simple & rewarding skill for new and seasoned homesteaders alike. In this post, we will walk through the benefits of pickling garden vegetables as well as pickling basics, tips, and recipes.
Types of Pickles | Pickling Methods
Vinegar Pickles
Vinegar pickles are sometimes called quick pickles. With this method, vegetables are packed in a brine with water, vinegar, salt, sugar, and spices. They are either refrigerated or, if they meet the pH requirements, hot water bath canned.
Fermented Pickles
You don’t need vinegar at all to make fermented pickles because the microbes create the acidity for you. Vegetables can be fermented with just water, salt, vegetables, and spices. Fermented pickles also contain beneficial microbes that aid in improving gut health. These pickles do need to sit longer, but the benefits are worth it.
Benefits of Pickling Vegetables
Why should you learn to pickle your garden harvest?
- Reduce Waste
Pickling is a great way to make use of excess produce from your garden harvest. If you have more cauliflower, beets, cucumbers, etc than you know what to do with, pickle a bunch and eat them later!
- Cost Effective
I believe that all food preservation methods offer a cost savings on groceries (especially with the price of groceries these days). Instead of running to the store every time you need a vegetable during the off-season, you can just grab a jar off the shelf!
- Enhance Flavor
Pickled vegetables can add a bright & tangy flavor to any meal. Use them to top sandwiches & salads, serve as a side to meat, or eat them on their own as a snack.
- Improves Gut Health
If you choose to make fermented pickles, you will enjoy delicious food while boosting your gut flora!
Resources for Making Homemade Pickles
Canning Books
There are a few hard and fast rules that will protect your family and the food you have worked to prepare.
My first suggestion is to get a quality book on canning and read it. Lehman’s has all the essential canning supplies, including the Blue Ball Book, which many consider the only guidebook you will ever need.
Jars and Lids
When canning, use standard canning jars with pre-treated lids; leftover food jars are NOT safe to use, they can explode in hot water bath or pressure cooker. Discard any jars with rims that are cracked or chipped.
Do not reuse lids! They come pre-treated from the manufacturer with an agent to help them keep their seal. It would be a shame to do all of the work of canning only to find out that the seal didn’t hold.
Tips for Pickling Vegetables
- Choose Quality Produce
Use firm, clean, fresh cucumbers, cauliflower, beets, carrots, asparagus, or whatever produce you have on hand. If you use veggies that are already starting to turn, they will become mushy much more quickly and can potentially ruin the batch.
- Use the Right Vinegar
Pickles can be made with any vinegar as long as it is at least 5% acidity. Distilled white vinegar and apple cider vinegar are most commonly used. It is not recommended to use homemade vinegar for pickling because the acidity can vary.
- Preserve Properly
Pickles– vinegar pickles and fermented pickles– should be refrigerated or hot water bath canned for preservation.
- Sanitize Jars and Lids
Jars and lids should be sanitized before adding food to them even if you aren’t hot water bath canning. You don’t want to leave bad bacteria on the jar that will grow in your food and potentially make you sick.
- Use a Safe Pickle Brine Ratio
Your pickle brine for vinegar pickles should be 1 part vinegar : 1 part water “ 1 TBSP salt per cup of liquid. If you are canning, use a tested recipe and check the pH.
- Don’t Overpack
You want to pack your veggies in, but not so tight that the brine can’t circulate. Make sure that the liquid can move around and the vegetables stay submerged under the water level.
- Try Different Flavors
Experiment with fresh dill, cinnamon, ginger, red pepper flakes, jalapenos, and other flavorings. If you are canning, you will need to make sure the pH stays within a safe range.
- Let Pickles Rest Before Eating
Let the vinegar pickles sit for 24 hours-3 days to soak up all the flavors before consuming.
- Keep Your Pickles Crunchy
Avoid soft pickles by using quality produce and adding natural tannins if needed.
Pickled Cauliflower Recipe
Here is a pickled cauliflower recipe and a list of other pickled vegetable recipes for you to try out.
Pickled Cauliflower
A simple recipe for pickled cauliflower.
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon oil
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
- 2 teaspoon curry powder
- 1 teaspoon fresh minced ginger
- 1 whole clove garlic, smashed
- 1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup rice wine vinegar
- ½ cup cider vinegar
- 3 Tablespoons sugar
- 1 Tablespoon pickling salt, no substitute
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a heavy skillet over medium heat.
- Crush the cumin seeds with the coriander seeds and add to the pan.
- Add the curry powder, ginger, and garlic to the pan.
- Cook these spices, stirring until the oil colors and the spices are fragrant.
- Add the cauliflower florets to the pan and toss to coat.
- In a lidded plastic container, combine the water, rice wine vinegar, cider vinegar, sugar, and pickling salt. Shake to combine.
- Once the cauliflower is slightly tender, add it to a canning jar. Pour the pickling liquid over the cauliflower, filling to the top of the clean jar.
- Cool, chill, and store for 1 week to allow the flavors to develop thoroughly.
How to Can Pickled Cauliflower
- Heat vinegar mixture to near boiling.
- Pack cauliflower into jars.
- Pour hot vinegar mixture into jars, leaving ½” headspace. Cover with lids; screw on bands to “fingertip tight.”
- Process jars in hot water bath for 5 minutes; water should cover jars by 1 inch. Remove jars to rack to cool. Test seals. Store in cool, dark place.
Pickled Cauliflower
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon oil
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
- 2 teaspoon curry powder
- 1 teaspoon fresh minced ginger
- 1 whole clove garlic, smashed
- 1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup rice wine vinegar
- ½ cup cider vinegar
- 3 Tablespoons sugar
- 1 Tablespoon pickling salt, no substitute
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a heavy skillet over medium heat.
- Crush the cumin seeds with the coriander seeds and add to the pan.
- Add the curry powder, ginger, and garlic to the pan.
- Cook these spices, stirring until the oil colors and the spices are fragrant.
- Add the cauliflower florets to the pan and toss to coat.
- In a lidded plastic container, combine the water, rice wine vinegar, cider vinegar, sugar, and pickling salt. Shake to combine.
- Once the cauliflower is slightly tender, add it to a canning jar. Pour the pickling liquid over the cauliflower, filling to the top of the clean jar.
- Cool, chill, and store for 1 week to allow the flavors to develop thoroughly.
More Pickle Recipes
If you grow a homestead garden you’ll eventually need to preserve the produce haul you bring in. Find more recipes and tutorials for preserving your garden bounty!
- Sweet Gherkins Pickles
- Pickled Peaches
- Dill Pickle Recipe
- Fermenting or Pickling: What’s the Difference?
- Bread & Butter Pickles
- Pickled Golden Beets
- Refrigerator Pickles
- Pickled Asparagus
Head on over to Lehmans.com to get more delicious tangy recipes for basic pickles including Sweet Gherkin Pickles, Dill Pickles, and Southern Pickled Peaches! You’ll also find a video tutorial for simple water bath canning instructions. Homesteader home canning couldn’t get any easier!
by Dori Fritzinger. Lehman’s Hardware 2018
updated by Homesteaders of America 2025
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