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I was a salt skeptic until a bad batch of sauerkraut changed my mind
For two years I just eyeballed my salt ratios for ferments. Figured it was fine. Then last month I made a batch of sauerkraut that turned into a slimy, moldy mess after only 5 days. I lost a whole head of cabbage and two carrots. My neighbor who's been fermenting for 15 years told me I needed to weigh my salt at 2% of the vegetable weight, not just guess. Got a cheap kitchen scale for $12 and my last batch of kraut came out perfect after 3 weeks. Anyone else had a ferment go wrong because they got lazy with measuring?
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emmag225mo ago
That's a good question about the scale. What was it about the slimy batch that finally made you stop guessing and actually measure? I've been fermenting for about 10 years now and I've always been pretty strict with my salt. I had a friend who lost a big batch of hot sauce because she thought she could just add a "decent amount" of salt. It's such a small thing but it really does make or break the whole process. Did you notice the texture being off right away or did it look okay for a couple days before things went bad?
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sam_thomas5mo ago
The texture felt off within like 12 hours, it had this weird almost rubbery film on top that just didn't sit right with me. That's when I finally dug out the scale my wife uses for baking and never looked back.
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