Recipe - Hot pickled cauliflower

Northern Life’s photographer Marg Seregelyi says “this recipe is a big hit in my house. I do a lot of experimenting with recipes and took a basic dill pickle recipe and modified it.

If you like it really hot, you can add more cayenne peppers. The longer your jars sit in your cupboard, the hotter it gets.”

Ingredients:

4 heads cauliflower
3 tablespoons pickling salt
3 cups each vinegar and water
3 teaspoons whole mixed pickling spice
18 whole black peppers
9 heads (tops) fresh dill or 3 tablespoons dill seed
6 dried cayenne peppers
3 to 6 cloves of garlic

Instructions:

Wash and rinse 6 pint-size or 3 quart-size canning jars.

Sterilize jars by placing them in a large canning kettle or pot. Cover with water. Bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes. Leave jars in pot until ready to use.

While waiting for water to boil, wash cauliflower heads. Cut in pieces small enough to fit into jars.

In a large pot, combine salt, vinegar and water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low.

Pack cauliflower into clean, hot jars. For each quart jar, add 1 teaspoon pickling spice, 6 whole black peppers, 2 dried cayenne peppers (broken in pieces), 1 garlic clove and 3 heads of fresh dill (or 1 tablespoon dill seed). For each pint jar, add ½ teaspoon pickling spice, 3 whole black peppers, 1 whole dried cayenne pepper broken up in pieces, 1 whole clove garlic and 1 ½ heads fresh dill (or 1 ½ teaspoons dill seed).

Fill jars with boiling salt-water-vinegar solution to ½ inch from top of quart jars or ¼ inch from top of pint jars. With a damp cloth, wipe jar rim clean. Place lid on jar and screw on ring band as tightly as you comfortably can.

Place filled jars into canning kettle. Bring to a boil. Boil (process) quart jars for 10 minutes and quart jars for 7 minutes.

Remove and set jars on a folded towel until cool. Test seal by pressing lid with your finger. If it stays down when pressed, jar is sealed. If it pops back up, it’s not sealed. Tighten rings. Store any unsealed jars in the refrigerator and use within a month. Store sealed jars in a cool, dry place. Refrigerate after opening.