Why it works: Turmeric and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,776 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓
Pickled Cauliflower
Ingredients
Directions
Salt and dry the cauliflower
Cut the cauliflower into 8-10 pieces.
Sprinkle the pieces with coarse sea salt.
Let the cauliflower sit for 24 hours.
Wash off the salt and drain the cauliflower.
Place the cauliflower in a flat jar and scald it with a mixture of ¼ pound salt and 1 quart water.
Cover the jar and let it sit overnight.
Drain the cauliflower in a sieve.
Let the cauliflower dry in a warm place for 24 hours.
Make the spiced vinegar
In a bowl, mix coriander seed, turmeric, mustard seed, and ginger.
Pound the mixture to a fine powder.
Combine the powder with 3 quarts of cider vinegar in a stone jar.
Let the mixture infuse by the fire for 3 days.
Pickle and seal
Pour the infused pickle over the cauliflower in a glass jar, ensuring it is fully covered.
Seal the jar tightly.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
-
Turmeric + gingertop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,776 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Cauliflower + turmerictop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together514 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Coriander + gingertop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,505 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
-
Coriander + turmerictop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,253 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Cauliflower + mustardtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together687 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cauliflower
- Is the vegetable being pickled, so it becomes firm and crisp-textured after salting and drying.
- Cider vinegar
- Provides the acid that preserves the cauliflower and gives the pickle its tang.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws water out of the cauliflower, firming it and helping it keep its crunch.
- Coriander seed
- Adds warm, citrusy aroma to the infused vinegar.
- Turmeric
- Gives the pickle its yellow colour and an earthy, bitter flavour.
- Mustard seed
- Adds pungent, sharp flavour that mellows during infusion.
The step that matters
Drying the salted cauliflower. Salting draws out water, and the 24-hour drying period removes surface moisture so the vinegar brine is not diluted and the pickle stays firm rather than soft.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cauliflower, cider, vinegar, coriander, turmeric, mustard):
- Cuminfits better
- Tarragonfits better
- Allspicefits better
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cauliflower, cider, vinegar, coriander, turmeric, mustard. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
More pickled cauliflower recipes
You might also like
Cauliflower Soup28 recipes
Cream of Cauliflower Soup22 recipes
Creamed Cauliflower17 recipes
Ham in Cider10 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.