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Comment by sendfoods | Hacker News Reader

That's 6.5% salinity. I am wondering how you settled with that number, I have always stuck to 3% and have never seen recommendations higher than 4%! Just curious

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That is not including the weight of the veggies though, which I think is really missing a trick in terms of control. Just weigh things at the end, the ratio that seems important is the total salt %.

I do all my ferments at about 2.5%, maybe 3 for sauces where saltier isn't a problem. I do it all in a vac bag, but the concept is the same, just use the final weight of everything.

2.5% of veggie weight? Or water weight?

I always use 3% of water weight, which in more consistent than weighing the veggies, because the amount of water can vary.

Very unusual to see food-related content on HN. I love it!

Jalapenos are like 90% water. So if you take 1kg of water and 1kg of Jalapenos you'll have 1.9kg of water, 2.5% of that if you want to have 2.5%.

Ah, I see!

For the vac bag I just do total weight, since things are almost entirely water anyway I think it'll work out about the same.

> Very unusual to see food-related content on HN. I love it!

:) me too. I really love lacto fermenting things, it's a nice old technique that's very forgiving and rewarding. The flavour you get out of it makes so many things pop, and the noma book is full of ideas (even if I'll never make them quite as fancy)

I'm doing a bunch of kefir now, and someday I'd like to do koji.

Water kefir is fun during summertime to have something a bit more healthy than soda. (Until a bottle flavored with raspberry explodes and turns your kitchen walls pink....)

Veggies are mostly water, so you'll need to account for that. Same when brining meat.

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