I often shop at Newlyns Farm Shop -  they have a fabulous range of fresh local produce, their own butchery and  many other delights to tempt your palette and your purse.  I actually went in to see if they had any Damsons in yet, but couldn't find any. What I did spot where these amazing coloured Cauliflowers and the Romanesquo Broccoli. Without a thought I picked up one of each and put them in my basket. They were just too beautiful to leave there. I'd have quite happily left them in this old seed tray of mine and just gazed at them on the kitchen side like some odd flower arrangement.  That seemed such a waste though, and I thought about how I could preserve their colours, crispness and sheer gorgeousness for Winter.

The answer was to pickle them! Simple!  To pickle vegetables, you usually dry or wet brine them for about 24 hours. This is what helps to preserve them. Then you pack sterile jars with whatever it is you are going to pickle, and top up with Spiced Vinegar of some type. You can use Malt, Distilled, Wine, or Cider vinegar - all just depend on what you are using, and how those flavours marry. Just make sure whatever vinegar you do chose is at least 5% acidity (it is marked on the bottle normally) as this will help the keeping qualities of the pickle.   You add spices to the vinegar to enhance the flavours, All Spice, Cinnamon, Blade Mace, Peppercorns and so on being commonly used.  Depending on whether you want a sweet or sour pickle, then you can add sugar to the proceedings too. It's all down to personal taste.  For these vegetables I decided to go for a sour pickle using clear distilled vinegar so that the colours of the vegetables are still very bright.

Ingredients

1½lbs cauliflower, broken into florets and rinsed clean

1lb of sliced onions, I used a mix of shallots and white onions

5oz of salt

For the Spiced vinegar:

2 pints distilled vinegar

2 cinnamon sticks

12 pepper corns - I used green and pink

2 tbsp Blade mace

1 tbsp Whole Cloves

1 tbsp Allspice

1 small bay leaf - I used several tiny ones from my bay tree

Method

 Clean and break the cauliflower into florets.  Peel and slice the onions.  Layer the vegetables in a large china or plastic bowl, alternating vegetables and then salt until is all used up. Pour over the water, cover with a clean tea towel and leave to brine overnight.

Place the vinegar, spices and the bay leaf in a saucepan and bring to boil. Allow to cool completely. Cover the pan to preserve the flavours and leave the liquid to marinate for  2 hours.

Strain the vinegar through a piece of muslin into a jug and then cover with cling-film and put to one side.

The following day, rinse the brine from the vegetables, drain well, and dry on kitchen paper. I find a whizz in a salad spinner works well  to dry the vegetables off.

Pack the vegetables into clean, sterile jars and then cover to the top with the spiced vinegar mix. Cover with vinegar proof, air tight tops immediately.

The pickles flavour needs to be allowed to develop for a month or two, so place them in a cool dark cupboard and enjoy with cheese, bread or cold meats in a couple of months.