• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Secrets of Cooking

  • Home
  • Recipes
  • Contact
  • Nav Social Menu

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
Home » How To Cook » Fermenting and Pickling

Fermenting and Pickling

Tablespoons, Salt and Sauerkraut – The Measuring Problem

Aug 13, 2017 · 4 Comments

close up of a tablespoon of pink himalayan salt

Tablespoons, Salt, and Sauerkraut – The Measuring Problem

Most Sauerkraut recipes call for 3 tablespoons of salt for every five pounds (2.3kg) of cabbage.

The problem with measuring salt with a tablespoon boils down to one thing:

Inaccuracy.

For example. Sauerkraut recipes do not tell you:

  • that various salt types measure differently in a tablespoon
  • if a level or heaping tablespoon is needed
  • the exact brand or type of salt to use much of the time

All Tablespoons of Salt are not Created Equal when making Sauerkraut

You see, some salt is coarse, some fine and some in between. One tablespoon of any of these is actually a different amount of salt. So, one tablespoon of fine grain salt will generally weigh more than coarse salt. That’s because more of the finer granules can fit into one tablespoon. The granules are closer together and packed more tightly. Think of it like this. Marbles fit more tightly in a box than beach balls. There’s larger air pockets between each beach ball and air weighs pretty much nothing.

As a consequence, you may be adding extra salt (or not enough) to your Sauerkraut without knowing it. This essentially changes the outcome of your sauerkraut. Often for the worse.

Strangely, from my own measurements, I’ve discovered smaller granules of salt do not always weigh more than larger granules. I found it can also depend on the brand, type, and density of the actual grains of salt. This definitely makes things more confusing. To simplify the matter, weigh your salt. No questions asked. Problem solved.

Let’s take a look at how the weight of different types of salt differs. Keep in mind each one of these three below is exactly one level tablespoon.

For this example we’ll take a look at three different salts:

  • Himalayan Pink Salt
  • Coarse Kosher Salt
  • Fine Sea Salt

One tablespoon each of Himalayan pink salt, Windsor coarse kosher salt and regular fine sea salt Surprising isn’t it?

So, obviously, measuring salt by the tablespoon is not going to give you the correct amount of salt for your sauerkraut. There are just too many variables.

Salt for Sauerkraut – Up Close and Personal

Let’s get a closer look at different types of salt in the photo below.

Notice how the sizes of the salt crystals are noticeably different from one another? The smaller the salt grain, the more weight you can fit into a single tablespoon. (usually)

close up on black backround of pink himalayan salt, Fine sea salt, coarse kosher salt, and coarse pickling salt There’s quite a difference between them, isn’t there?

This table will illustrate how much of a difference that can make when a sauerkraut recipe calls for three tablespoons of salt.

 

Salt Type 3 Tablespoons (in grams)
Pink Himalayan Salt 54g
Great Value Coarse salt 60g
Regular table salt 51g
Windsor Coarse Kosher salt 48g
Windsor coarse pickling salt 48g

As a result, you may be adding up to 12g too much or 12g too little salt to your sauerkraut.

Level or Heaping Tablespoon of Salt

Most sauerkraut recipes don’t tell you if you should be using a level tablespoon, a heaping tablespoon, or something in between. A leveled tablespoon is where you slide a butter knife across the top of the spoon. It leaves the salt exactly level with the height of the tablespoon. On the other hand, a heaping tablespoon of salt resembles a mini “mountain” of salt that sits above the height of the spoon. Most sauerkraut recipes don’t tell you which one of the two to measure. Level or heaping? It’s your guess.

Can you spot the difference between these two salt measurements?

 a level tablespoon salt vs a heaping spoon side by side

Tablespoons of Salt from Different Countries

What makes matters worse is that the size of a tablespoon made in one country is sometimes different than another country. For instance, Australia uses a 20ml tablespoon. In contrast, most of the rest of the world uses a 15ml tablespoon. Further to that, North America does not have a legal standard on what size a tablespoon should be made. It’s not an official measurement. So it’s really up to the manufacturer to decide exactly how big your tablespoon will actually be.

In conclusion, promise me you’ll never, never, ever measure salt by a tablespoon again when you make sauerkraut. It may seem easy to do, but your sauerkraut will suffer. Instead use a cabbage to salt ratio. Weigh both the salt and cabbage on a kitchen scale. It makes great sauerkraut every time!

Extra bonus resources for you:

  1. Cook’s Info has more info about tablespoons from different countries.
  2. Serious Eats discusses the innaccuracy of measuring salt with a tablespoon.

And while you’re here…please do leave a comment. Ask a question. Let us know your experience or opinion. I’d love to hear it!

Happy Cooking!
Anton

Fermenting and Pickling, How To Cook Cooking Weights and Measurements, Salt, Sauerkraut

How Much Salt do I use for Sauerkraut?

Aug 13, 2017 · 6 Comments

jar of sauerkraut next to a container of pink Himalayan salt

Sauerkraut – Using The Correct Amount of Salt

Making sauerkraut for the first time can be intimidating. I promise you it doesn’t have to be. There are just a few things you need to get right for a tasty, full flavored kraut.
The first (and most important) question I always ask myself is how much salt do I use for sauerkraut?

Expert sauerkraut makers agree on one thing. The amount of salt is critical to the quality and safety of your sauerkraut. The correct amount of salt for any recipe is 2% percent of the weight of your cabbage. This assumes your cabbage is fermenting in an 18C to 21C environment. As you keep reading, you’ll learn how to quickly calculate this for yourself.

In a nutshell, the method goes like this:

  1. Weigh your cabbage
  2. Do some math
  3. Weigh your salt

Seems fairly straight forward doesn’t it?

Step by Step Salt and Cabbage Measurements

jar of sauerkraut next to dish of Pink Himalayan Salt. Text reads 2000g cabbage times 2% salt by weight = 40g salt

Step 1 – Weigh your cabbage

First, weigh your cabbage using a digital kitchen scale.

By the way, I’m intentionally using the metric measurement of grams for this. It’s just easier to work with than the imperial system.

TIP:
Don’t weigh your cabbage in the condition you’ve purchased it from the market.
Instead, weigh it after you’ve torn off the outer leaves and removed the tough inner core.
The trick is to weigh the exact amount of cabbage that will end up in your sauerkraut.

For our example let’s say you’ve set your cabbage on a kitchen scale and it weighs exactly 2000g. (about two heads of cabbage)

Great, step one is done!

a digital kitchen scale with tablespoon of salt with a head of cabbage.

Step 2 – Do Some Easy Math

So from step one,  you discovered your cabbage weighs 2000g right? For step two, take that number (2000g) and multiply by .02. Notice how the number “2” is in .02? That’s how you end up with 2% salt.

Wait, before we continue, a lot of our readers don’t like math! So why not try our sauerkraut calculator directly below?

Sauerkraut Calculator

Type the number of grams of cabbage you have below:

For ??? of cabbage, you will need ??? of salt.

Note: This will give you a 2% salt to cabbage ratio. Which is exactly what you want!

After you multiply, you’ll end up with the number 40. That means 40g of salt is needed for 2000g of raw cabbage.

Let’s look at that again:
2000g of cabbage multiplied by .02 equals “the number of grams of salt you need”

OR

2000g x .02 = salt
2000g x .02 = 40g of salt

This also works for any amount of cabbage!

Let’s change the amount of cabbage and see what happens.

If you have 200g of cabbage, it would look like this…
200g x .02 = 4g salt

What about 654g of cabbage?
Let’s do it.

654g x .02 = 13.08g salt (we’ll just say 13g even)

And just to make it sink in, let’s have a little fun.
What about 40,000g of cabbage!
No problem.

40,000g x .02 = 800g salt

Fantastic, step two is done.

Step 3 – Weigh your salt

Now, simply weigh your salt with a kitchen scale to match the answer you got above. That’s how much salt you should use. There are no tablespoons to measure here.

Next, find out why tablespoons are inaccurate when measuring salt for sauerkraut.


Fermenting Sauerkraut bonus resources:

The University of Wisconsin-Madison has great information in PDF document format about fermenting vegetables, including sauerkraut:
You can find these at the links below. When you click on these links, a PDF will either open or download.

Recommendations for Safe Production of Fermented Vegetables
Fermented Vegetables
Fermented and Acidified Vegetables

And while you’re here…please do leave a comment. Ask a question. Let us know your experience or opinion. I’d love to hear it!

Happy Cooking!
Anton

Fermenting and Pickling, How To Cook Cabbage, Coarse Salt, Cooking Weights and Measurements, Fine Grain Salt, Himalayan Pink Salt, Kosher Salt, Salt, Sauerkraut

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • What Goes Well With Bok Choy
  • Tablespoons, Salt and Sauerkraut – The Measuring Problem
  • How Much Salt do I use for Sauerkraut?
  • How do You Choose Between Tamarind Pulp Paste or Concentrate
  • How To Cut a Bell Pepper

Recent Comments

  • Anton on Tablespoons, Salt and Sauerkraut – The Measuring Problem
  • Anton on How Much Salt do I use for Sauerkraut?
  • Tony Deaves on How Much Salt do I use for Sauerkraut?
  • Lori Stockwell-Davis on Tablespoons, Salt and Sauerkraut – The Measuring Problem
  • Anton on Tablespoons, Salt and Sauerkraut – The Measuring Problem

Categories

  • Chinese
  • Chutney
  • Fermenting and Pickling
  • Flavors that taste good together
  • How To Cook
  • Indian
  • Ingredients
  • Knife Skills
  • Recipes
  • Sides
  • World Cuisine

Featured Recipes

Bok Choy on a cutting board with text saying what goes well with bok choy.

What Goes Well With Bok Choy

Peanut Mint Chutney in a bowl garnished with mint leaves.

Mint Chutney with tamarind and peanuts

More

Footer

Instagram

Instagram did not return a 200.
  • Home
  • About
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2021 Secrets of Cooking on the Seasoned Pro Theme