When I was growing up in Jersey, every Italian restaurant had a jar of pickled vegetables somewhere around the counter, and for long years I thought “antipasti” specifically meant the combination of pickled cauliflower, carrots and onions that always appeared whenever you ordered “antipasto” at these red-sauce joints.
And in many places, they just set it out on the table the way a Mexican place sets out chips and salsa. Sometimes there were skinny breadsticks alongside, sometimes garlic knots, sometimes garlic bread.
The real name for this mix of pickled cauliflower and other vegetables is giardiniera, or garden pickles, and they are, apparently, a Southern Italian thing. Makes sense since this is where most Italians in my town came from. The mix also often has pickled green peppers and celery in it, too, and some can be wicked hot.
Cauliflower isn’t my favorite vegetable to eat normally — it bores me — but I do like it pickled. Its firm texture and form really lend themselves to pickling. So I make these every year as a hat tip to my New Jersey childhood.
Below is an Italian recipe for pickling cauliflower, but some fun variations would be:
- Adding turmeric or saffron to the vinegar to turn it a bright yellow.
- Including beets to stain it pink.
- Actually making giardiniera, by adding sliced carrot, onion, garlic and peppers.
- Go Asian by adding a tablespoon of soy sauce instead of salt, a few slices of fresh ginger, skipping all the spices below except for the chiles, and adding some sliced garlic.
You can make your pickled cauliflower as a refrigerator pickle, as I mostly do, or you can water-bath can it, following these safety guidelines.
Pickled Cauliflower, Italian Style
Ingredients
- 1 large head of cauliflower
- 4 teaspoons coriander seeds
- 4 teaspoons fennel seeds
- 4 teaspoons mustard seeds (optional)
- 4 dried hot chiles
- 2 teaspoons dried thyme
- 7 cups white vinegar
- 7 cups water
- 5 tablespoons pickling or kosher salt
Instructions
- Get a large canning pot full of water hot. Be sure it has a rack or a metal steaming insert to keep the bottom of the glass jars from touching the bottom of the pot.
- Toast the coriander, fennel and mustard seeds in a dry pan until they smell fragrant. Stir or toss occasionally. As soon as you hear the first seed pop, turn off the heat.
- Meanwhile, break the cauliflower into pieces you’d want to eat as a pickle — neither too big nor too small. Do this by cutting down around the stem, then breaking the clumps of florets into smaller pieces. You may want to trim the stem pieces as you go.
- Divide the toasted spices, thyme and chiles into 4 clean quart jars. Pack the cauliflower into the jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.
- Boil the vinegar, salt and water and ladle into jars. You might have some left over, depending on how tightly you packed the cauliflower.
- Wipe the rims before you put on unused lids — you must use new lids every time, otherwise you might not get a proper seal; you can reuse the metal lid rims, though. Submerge in simmering water for 10 minutes, then let cool on a cutting board or rack. Wait at least a few weeks before eating. These pickles will keep in the pantry for a year. Refrigerate after opening, though.
I have a question, Hank – you don’t say how big or what kind of dried hot chiles to use, so how much dried crushed red pepper flakes would I use instead? These are quite potent!
Mary: It’s all up to you. I like it hot. And remember, you can always add more.
Very cool recipe. My family is also southern Italian and I ate these growing up but haven’t had them in a while. So today I bought a bunch of ingredients and made some without a recipe, just guessing what should go in them, and it I suppose it’s genetic because I made them almost exactly like this recipe! I went online to see if I did it right, but I guess it’s in the blood. Lol
How long before I can eat them? I put them up in pint and 1/2 pint jars as it’s just me.
Ginger: Generally at least a week.
Thank you! Can’t wait to make them.
You stated “if you don’t feel like canning, you can keep the pickles in the fridge for several months”. So, does that mean I could put the whole recipe in a gallon jar, follow the recipe as you described except for water bathing the jar? Let it cool and put in fridge? Wait a few weeks before eating? (Sorry. Never canned before) Thanks.
Ann: Yes. I’ve done this with quart jars for years. The pickles will last a few months that way.
I’m new to water bath canning and I actually made pickled cauliflower with lemon slices. I tried a jar after one week (delish) but the cauliflower is soft.. not crunchy. Is it supposed to be?
Dee: Nope. It is supposed to be crunchy. How long did you water bath can it?
So, neither cauliflower nor carrots are cooked before canning.
Hahaha!
I thought that too
We Armenians love including cauliflower in homemade pickled vegetables.
The Italian spices are a refreshing change. I’m looking forward to it.
so a 10 minute BWB? I will have to try your recipe this fall.. THANKS!
Lyne, and Hank: I made fermented cauliflower with carrots this spring, using basically this same recipe above, except I used no thyme, used 4 jalapeño peppers cut lengtwise, seeds and all, instead of dry chiles, and added black peppercorns and caraway seeds, and some 5 cloves of garlic.
The brine was 3 tbsp. canning or kosher salt per quart/liter of water.
The pickles turned out great after one week, but I let them one week more and they got better to my taste, and a little softer, but still crunchy.
Only thing I´d rather not had used was the caraway seeds, they were too overwhelming for me.
Have you tried making this using a traditional fermentation? I love giardiniera and would really enjoy making my own. Do you have a recipe for that?
Lyne: I haven’t. But there is not reason you couldn’t use that brine pickled carrot recipe I link to in this post. If you do it, let me know how it turns out, OK?