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
Cut cauliflower before it is too blown on a dry day, strip off the leaves, and quarter the stalk.
Scald the cauliflower in salt and water without boiling, then cover to cool and retain color.
Sprinkle with salt and water, then drain in a colander for 24 hours.
When dry, cut out the thick stalk or divide it if large, then boil briefly and split the flower into 8 or 10 pieces.
Pickle and jar
Place the pieces in jars and cover with cold vinegar boiled with spices.
Alternatively, boil the cauliflower in salt and vinegar, then immediately transfer to cold vinegar boiled with spices.
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.
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Turmeric + gingertop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,776 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Cauliflower + turmerictop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together514 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Coriander + gingertop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,505 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
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Coriander + turmerictop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,253 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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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
- Forms the main body of the pickle and holds its texture in the brine.
- Cold vinegar
- Provides the acidity that preserves and sharpens the pickle.
- Coriander seeds
- Adds warm, citrusy aroma to the pickling liquor.
- Turmeric
- Gives the pickle its yellow color and an earthy flavor.
- Mustard seeds
- Contributes a pungent, sharp flavor to the spiced vinegar.
The step that matters
Scalding without boiling. Boiling the cauliflower in the salt and water can soften it and cause it to lose color. Keeping it just below a boil and cooling it covered helps it stay firm and retain its color.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cauliflower, vinegar, coriander, turmeric, mustard, ginger, nutmeg):
- Cuminfits better
- Allspicefits better
- Cinnamonfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cauliflower, vinegar, coriander, turmeric, mustard, ginger, nutmeg. 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.
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