I was team brine for 6 months until I tried dry salting my kraut

For the longest time I kept making sauerkraut with a brine because I was scared of not getting enough liquid. Then last month at a community swap in Austin this old timer told me to just weigh my cabbage, add 2% salt by weight, and massage it hard for 5 minutes. I followed his method exactly and the water just appeared out of nowhere. The texture came out way crunchier than my brine batches ever did. I also noticed the flavor was more tangy and less watery overall. Has anyone else made the switch and noticed a difference in how fast it ferments?

3 comments

3 Comments

blair_torres703d ago

86th street Farmers Market was where I first tried dry salt and honestly I felt like such a fool for all those brine batches. @wesley639 you nailed it on the crunch difference, my kraut actually squeaks when I bite into it now which is weird but amazing. Ngl I think the faster ferment is because the salt gets into the cabbage cells better without all that extra water diluting things. My first dry salt batch I was so scared I put too much salt but it turned out perfect and I haven't looked back since.

xena_hernandez983d ago

Wait, how long are you guys massaging the salt in? I've been doing like 5 minutes and getting good results but maybe I'm not going long enough to really break down the cell walls like you're describing.

wesley6393d ago

Oh man, that's the exact same thing that happened to me! I was convinced brine was the only way to keep everything submerged until a friend basically dragged me through the dry salt massage method. Now my kraut ferments noticeably faster, like 3-4 days quicker, and the crunch is night and day different.