Unpopular opinion: You don't HAVE to weigh everything for sauerkraut

I was at my kitchen counter last month making a 5 pound batch of red cabbage kraut. The recipe said to weigh every single gram of salt and cabbage for the perfect brine ratio. I forgot my scale was broken so I just eyeballed it with a tablespoon and packed it tight. Three weeks later it came out perfectly tangy and crunchy. Sure my ratios were off but it still worked. Has anyone else found that the strict ratios are overrated?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_phoenix25d ago

A tablespoon of salt per 5 pounds of cabbage is actually a pretty standard rough estimate, not a wild guess. I've made plenty of kraut that way and it always turns out fine, though the exact ratios matter more with long fermentation.

xena_murphy24d ago

Totally changed my mind on this actually. A few years ago I was a total scale freak with my ferments and would stress if I was off by a gram. @the_phoenix mentioning the tablespoon per 5 pounds thing really clicked for me, now I just toss in salt until it tastes right and it always works out.