Are you looking for ways to use that leftover cauliflower in the fridge or from a farm CSA? Cauliflower is delicious when it’s cooked or raw. Some people like it with a kind of dip (ranch and a crudité tray, anyone?). But have you ever had fermented cauliflower? It’s better than the pickled cauliflower you can get in the jar for a relish tray, it’s filled with healthy probiotics, and it lasts for an extremely long time.
To prevent food waste, make your cauliflower last for months and also be incredibly delicious, ferment your leftover cauliflower with onions using lactic acid fermentation with a simple recipe.
Don’t let your cauliflower sit in the fridge until it goes bad! Preserve it and make it unique, delicious, and probiotic with this recipe to ferment it.
Base Brine Recipe
This recipe is great for most vegetable ferments, excluding things like kim chi or pickles which require different levels of salt in the brine.
Combine 1 quart of unchlorinated water with 1 tbs of non-iodized salt. Stir until the salt dissolves. Store at room temperature or in the fridge.
Ingredients and Recipe for Fermented Cauliflower
- 4 cups Cauliflower Florets
- 1/2 cup Onions (any variety)
- Base Brine
First, cut the onions into slices length-wise from stem to root. You can also cut them into squares but my preferred way of eating them is when they are sliced length-wise. Then, cut the cauliflower florets from the main stalk into small florets. If they are too big, you won’t be able to fit them in a jar and you’ll have a lot of wasted space.
Pack the onions and cauliflower into a one-pint mason jar without crushing them, leaving one inch of headspace (empty space) at the top of the jar. You can use a kraut pounder like this one from Masontops on Amazon to help pack the jar tightly and evenly. Then, top off the jar with the base brine and leave one inch of headspace at the top.
To keep the onions and cauliflower under the level of the liquid, add a fermenting weight or even a clean and sanitized rock to keep the veggies under the level of the liquid to prevent them from molding. You can add a cauliflower leaf (or cabbage leaf if you have one of those lying around) before adding the weight to help hold everything down and not let anything pop up around the weight.
Attach a MasonTops lid or a regular metal canning lid. If you’re using a canning lid, burp the jar every day to release the pressure by loosening the ring slightly and then tightening it again. Let it sit at room temperature for 3-5 days depending on the temperature of the room and the amount you want it to ferment. You can let it go for a few days longer if you want it tangier or if the temperature in your house is cool and the fermentation process is slow.
Once you’ve observed active bubbles for a few days, the ferment smells sour but pleasant, and the taste of the cauliflower and onions is at the tangy level that you like, put the jar in the fridge and enjoy over time for a few months!
How to Eat Fermented Cauliflower
You’ve done the work and now it’s time to enjoy your new creation. But what’s the best way to enjoy it? This may not surprise you, but any way you want to eat it is the best way! You can eat it right out of the jar just like you would pickles or olives. Grab some of the cauliflower and the onions, put it in a bowl, and snack away! This adds probiotics to your diet and is delicious and easy to eat. The cauliflower should be crunchy still and the onions have a new flavor that is tangy and not harsh or hot at all.
You can also add this kind of ferment to anything spicy as a topping. You can chop up the cauliflower and onions finer or just top your tacos with them to add a delicious hit of tang and acidity to the dish. If you don’t want to add them directly to your meal, you can have them as a side dish to eat alongside whatever spicy food you are enjoying. Ferments can really balance and add amazing depth of flavor to spicy dishes.
Speaking of spicy, why not make the ferment the star of the show? Add some hot sauce to the cauliflower and onions that you are eating raw and add that extra hit of flavor like that. Your favorite hot sauce will combine beautifully with the fermented cauliflower and onions.
We’re on a roll with the spicy ideas so here’s another – blend up the cauliflower and onions with a bit of the brine and either add in some of your favorite hot sauce or else throw in some peppers that you grew or purchased to make your own hot sauce! This adds a natural tangy flavor to your hot sauce, plus probiotics and raw veggies. Store it in a jar in your fridge for 2-3 weeks but I doubt it will last that long!
Storing Your Fermented Cauliflower
To store your ferment, the best way is to put it in the fridge in a clean jar with a lid – either plastic or a metal canning lid. Storing the cauliflower in the fridge will slow down the fermentation so the flavor will be consistent over time and not get too strong. It will also make it last for months! I have a jar of cauliflower that I’ve had for over a year in the fridge and it’s still delicious and crunchy.
As you use the cauliflower, you should put it in smaller jars so that it’s not taking up too much space and so there isn’t as much headspace between the ferment and the top of the jar. The jar itself can start to grow mold or get dirty (even though your ferment itself is perfectly fine) so if you are planning on long-term storage, changing the jar periodically as you are using it up will help.
You can also store your fermented cauliflower in a root cellar or cool pantry that stays below 60 degrees Fahrenheit but doesn’t freeze. A consistent cool temperature is best for preservation and flavor. This method will not last quite as long because the temperatures are not as cool as in a fridge so over time, there is more likelihood that the ferment will start to be too strong or could develop mold.
It’s important to use any ferment stored like this in under 6 months, with under 3 being preferable, but you have to use your own senses and make decisions for what is best for you. Just like with the fridge method, transfer the ferment (including brine) to smaller jars as you start to use it to reduce the amount of oxygen that it comes in contact with.
What Does Fermented Cauliflower Taste Like?
Fermented cauliflower with onions is so delicious! It tastes similar to what a vinegar-pickled cauliflower and onion would taste like, but the natural fermentation adds a unique flavor. The natural fermentation adds a gentle tang that is also very complex and has a depth of flavor that can’t be matched by a simple vinegar pickle.
If you don’t like the flavor of raw cauliflower, you might be pleasantly surprised by the flavor of a fermented cauliflower. The bright, tangy, slightly sour flavor from the lactic acid is unique to a naturally fermented food. Give this a try with your leftover cauliflower and experience the difference!
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If you want to learn how to do some other types of fermentation, check out the magic behind water kefir here.
