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 ↓
To Pickle Cauliflowers
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cauliflower
Cut off the thick stalk of the cauliflowers and split the flower part into 8 to 10 pieces.
Spread the pieces on a large dish and sprinkle them with coarse sea salt.
Let the pieces stand for 24 hours, then wash off the salt and drain them.
Place the pieces in a broad flat jar or pan.
Scald the cauliflowers with a brine made from ¼ pound of salt dissolved in 1 quart of water.
Cover the jar and let the cauliflowers sit in the brine until the next day.
Drain the cauliflowers in a sieve.
Spread the cauliflowers on a cloth in a warm place to dry for 24 hours.
Make the pickle
Mix coriander seed, turmeric, mustard seed, and ginger, then 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.
Pack and seal
Pour the infused pickle over the dried cauliflowers in clean jars, making sure the cauliflowers are well covered.
Seal the jars tightly to keep out air.
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
- Cauliflowers
- Form the bulk of the pickle and keep their texture firm after salting and drying.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws water out of the cauliflower and seasons it before the brine step.
- Coriander seed
- Adds a warm, citrusy aroma to the pickling liquid.
- Turmeric
- Gives the pickle its yellow colour and an earthy flavour.
- Mustard seed
- Adds a sharp, pungent flavour that carries through the vinegar.
- Cider vinegar
- Provides acidity that preserves the cauliflower and gives the pickle its tang.
The step that matters
Drying the cauliflower before pickling. If the pieces stay wet, they dilute the vinegar and can spoil or become soft, so they need to dry fully before the pickle is poured over them.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cauliflower, coriander, turmeric, mustard, cider, vinegar):
- Cuminfits better
- Tarragonfits better
- Allspicefits better
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cauliflower, coriander, turmeric, mustard, cider, vinegar. 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.