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Looked up the salt ratio for basic sauerkraut and my mind is blown
I've been making sauerkraut for about a year now, just eyeballing the salt and hoping for the best. Last week my batch came out looking slimy so I finally looked up the actual recommended salt percentage. Apparently it's 2% of the cabbage weight. That little fact blew my mind because I'd been using maybe half that. No wonder my batches always turned out soft and funky after a couple weeks. Now I finally understand why some people's kraut stays crunchy for months. My last batch with the proper salt ratio is already smelling way cleaner. Has anyone else realized they were way off on the basics after just checking one number?
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gavinlopez15d ago
Yeah, slimy kraut is a dead giveaway you were way under 2%.
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casey_harris15d ago
Gotta push back a little on the 2% thing. It's not exactly 2% across the board. I use 2% for summer cabbage but winter storage cabbage is denser and drier so I bump it to 2.5% or even 3% if it's really old and limp. Also if you're in a hot climate you might need more salt to slow down the fermentation. Your slimy batch might have been more about temperature than salt. Just something to keep in mind.
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