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Found out my great aunt's sauerkraut recipe uses a specific weight of salt per head of cabbage
I was going through some old family papers from my mom's house in Cincinnati and found a handwritten note from my great aunt. It was her sauerkraut recipe, which I always thought was just 'shred cabbage and add salt.' The note said to use exactly 1.5 tablespoons of pickling salt for every 5 pounds of cabbage. I'd been just guessing for years, maybe a big pinch per jar. I tried it last weekend with a scale and her exact amounts. The batch is only a week in, but it already looks and smells way more active and even than my old attempts. It made me realize how much of a difference a small, specific measurement can make in fermentation, not just cooking. Has anyone else had a family recipe with a precise ratio that actually worked better than winging it?
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adams.pat7mo ago
Yeah, that's pickling salt, not regular salt. The stuff without iodine makes a huge difference for fermenting.
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oliviabennett6mo ago
My grandma in Milwaukee never measured a thing for her kraut, just salted it until it felt right in her hands. Her crock was always perfect. I get what @jana_hayes31 says about pure salt, but the exact weight thing feels like overkill for a home kitchen. People have been making this stuff for centuries without scales. My last batch I just used a handful of kosher salt per head and it fermented just fine, maybe even with more character because it wasn't so uniform. Sometimes chasing perfect numbers takes the soul out of a family recipe.
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