Salt percentage
Salt percentages that actually work
1.5% is the safety floor. 2.0% is the standard. 2.5% is the kimchi default. Above 3% you are into pickle-and-preserving territory. Calculator on this page; reference levels below.
Salt calculator
Enter your vegetable weight and a salt percentage. We return the exact salt mass in grams, plus teaspoons for each common grain.
grams
%
Grain matters: one teaspoon of Diamond Crystal weighs half as much as one teaspoon of fine sea salt. Weigh in grams when you can.
All salt grains
| Grain | Grams | Teaspoons | Tablespoons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diamond Crystal kosher | 20 g | 7.04 | 2.35 |
| Morton kosher | 20 g | 4.17 | 1.39 |
| Fine sea salt | 20 g | 3.51 | 1.17 |
| Pickling / canning | 20 g | 3.64 | 1.21 |
The canonical salt levels
- 1.5% — Safety floor
- Absolute minimum for submerged vegetable ferments per NCHFP + Sandor Katz. Below this line lactic bacteria compete poorly; yeasts and moulds dominate.
- 1.8% — Sauerkraut minimum
- The lower edge of the sauerkraut range. Ferment is fast; flavour is less salty but keeps less well.
- 2.0% — Standard sauerkraut + kimchi
- The most-cited default across cabbage and napa-cabbage ferments. Balanced flavour, predictable timing at 68 °F.
- 2.25% — Slightly salty
- A touch firmer, a touch slower. Good for warm kitchens where 2.0% finishes too fast.
- 2.5% — Kimchi + hot-sauce
- Korean baechu kimchi standard; also the starting point for pepper-mash hot-sauce ferments.
- 3.0% — Pickle low-end
- Entry to the pickle-brine range when used as a mash weight; most dry-salt cucurbit + allium ferments.
- 3.5% — Half-sour to full-sour
- Long sauerkraut ferments; firm kimchi; flavour-forward lacto hot sauce.
- 4.0% — Preserving strength
- Slows lactic activity dramatically. Used for long-life pickles and olive cures. Expect weeks rather than days.
The kit these percentages assume
A short, honest kit for lacto-fermentation. The scale is the one that matters most — everything here is by weight.
- Digital kitchen scale (0.1 g)Salt % is by weight, not volume — a 0.1 g scale is what makes the math above accurate.View on Amazon →
- Glass fermentation weightsKeep vegetables submerged under the brine line so they ferment safely without mould.View on Amazon →
- Airlock fermentation lidsLet CO₂ escape while keeping oxygen out — wide-mouth lids that fit standard jars.View on Amazon →
- Wide-mouth mason jarsThe workhorse vessel for kraut, kimchi and brine pickles — 1 qt and ½ gal sizes.View on Amazon →
- Pickling / fine sea saltPure salt with no iodine or anti-caking agents, which can cloud brine and inhibit fermentation.View on Amazon →
- Stoneware fermentation crockFor scaling past the jar — a water-sealed crock for 5 L+ batches with built-in weights.View on Amazon →
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