This Oil-Preserved Cauliflower Is A Truly Appetizing Snack! [Recipe]

Whether you want to eat it plain, or as garnish on your favorite dishes, this oil-preserved cauliflower will give your food a flavor boost! It’s a perfect recipe when you always buy your vegetables in bulk. Saves you so much valuable time from running to the grocers.

This Oil-Preserved Cauliflower Will Be Your New Tasty Treat!

Why Cauliflower in oil?

A jar of vegetables preserved in oil has the advantage of being able to be stored for months, which is because olive oil is a natural preservative. Oil does it by isolating the vegetable from the air, preventing molding and oxidation that usually spoils food.

These oil-preserved cauliflowers are absolutely adored at our home because they’re richly nutritious and incredibly tasty. You can eat them straight up as a snack, or make a flavorful dish out of them.

Now even if they’re almost readily available any season thanks to grocery stores, there’s still that incredible satisfaction of being able to create your own recipes and flavors at home.

What do we need?

Aside from the cauliflowers, we’ll need vinegar for acidification of ingredients, for safety reasons the vinegar must be at least 6% acidity. I always use white wine vinegar, but apple cider is also an excellent alternative.

For the oil, I go for the quality extra virgin olive oil. The non-extra virgin variant can also work, but there will be a slight difference in taste.

Then, we have the spice and herbs. This is where it gets exciting, as you can personalize the flavor by replacing the herbs and spices. Pink pepper is a wonderful substitute to peppercorn, to give it a more aromatic and delicate taste.

Adding sage leaves or bay leaves also further enhances the taste, or add both herbs at the same time for an absolutely delightful flavor!

Let’s get cooking this oil-preserved cauliflower!

To start, wash all the ingredients and dry them, then bring to boil the water and vinegar mixture, include the peppercorn and salt. This is where we’ll acidify all the ingredients for 2 minutes. Once done, drain them and dry completely.

We can start packing cauliflowers into jars and cover it with olive oil. Pour gently so it could get into the nooks and crannies.

Cover the jar and process for 20 minutes, but be sure to adjust the time for your altitude. Cool completely, check for a proper vacuum seal and that’s it!

Once done, You can enjoy a nutritious snack when you need to nibble on something. Or make it a tasty dish like cauliflower saffron or battered cauliflower vegetable!

Oil-preserved Cauliflower

Recipe by Gillian Lightman

Ingredients

• 3.3 lb (1.5 kg) cauliflowers

• 2 1/2 cups (600 ml) water

• 3 1/2 cups (800 ml) white wine vinegar (6% acidity)

• extra virgin olive oil

• salt

• 25 grains black peppercorns

Directions

• Wash cauliflowers, then divide into smaller florets of same size.
• Mix water with vinegar and bring to boil. Add the peppercorn and a bit of salt.
• Blanch cauliflower in vinegar mixture for 2 minutes.
• Drain and dry them completely.
• Pack cauliflowers into sterilized jars. Include peppercorns if desired.
• Pour extra virgin oil and cover up to an inch from edge.
• Apply lid and process for 20 mins. (Adjust for altitude).
• Turn heat off and let jars sit for 5 minutes to settle.
• Remove jars and cool completely.
• Check jar if sealed properly or if oil level dropped.
• Store in pantry.

Notes

• This can produce 4-5 250 ml cans.