4 ms·
When fermenting pickles and peppers, mine always end up being too salty; I tend to want to error on the side of being too salty to make sure its a safe ferment,
by jonnycomputer 4y ago
When fermenting pickles and peppers, mine always end up being too salty; I tend to want to error on the side of being too salty to make sure its a safe ferment, but then I have to soak the pickles in potable water until they aren't too salty anymore. I'll get it right someday.
I suspect that using volume measurements instead of mass might be part of the problem.
- powersnail 4y agoUsing volume measurement for salt is a bit problematic, because different brand of salt come with different sizes. A teaspoon of finer salt might be twice as heavy as a teaspoon of coarser salt. It's not always easy to find out that ratio between your salt and the one used by the recipe author.
- bitwrangler 4y agoI would suggest using a kitchen scale to weight the food (minus the container weight) and then add in the 3% of salt (or whatever percent you want). Using the scale made all the difference for me with getting the consistency and flavor. good luck!
- MrMetlHed 4y agoTwo of my most used and most useful kitchen tools are a Thermapen and a digital scale. Just being able to measure accurately makes all of the difference in cooking just about anything. A cup of flour or a teaspoon of salt can weigh very differently depending on how tightly packed or how fine the grain is, better to be exact and not risk screwing everything up.
- nbk_2000 4y agoI love Thermapens! I've been looking for an equally well built kitchen scale. Have any recommendations?
- amluto 4y agoThe 0.1g-precision Bluetooth scales used for coffee are decent. They all seem to share essentially the same firmware, which suggests that they come from the same ODM, and they’re decent — mostly work, only a little flakey.
- Ironlikebike 4y agoIf it's hot in the kitchen (I ferment on the counter so I don't forget about the ferments), I ere on the side of caution and use quite a bit of salt. After a few days I taste the brine. It should be starting to sour. If it's clearly too salty, I just add a bit of fresh water to the crock, taste again, and repeat. I taste it every day and refrigerate the ferment once it's at the right sourness.
- nomel 4y agoI wonder if the gasses could be sampled and monitored, or maybe some spectral analysis of the fluids, to find if undesirable biological activity were happening?
- bagels 4y agoI use litmus paper to test acidity of the brine. Usually ends up around 3.0-3.5 ph. Also monitor smell, bubble formation (good) and watch for bad colors (white, black, green mold on top), browning of ferment, especially near the top (bad)
- bobthepanda 4y agoSalty fermentation products are good for stir fries or soups where a little goes a long way, and you can dilute with other ingredients.