Vegetable · cucurbit

Kirby Cucumber

Kirby (aka pickling) cucumbers are bred for fermentation: small (4-6 inches), thick-walled, low seed count, no wax coating. Grocery-store English or slicing cucumbers fail because their wax blocks brine penetration and their thin skin softens to mush.

Salt calculator

Enter your vegetable weight and a salt percentage. We return the exact salt mass in grams, plus teaspoons for each common grain.

Vegetable weight

grams

Salt percentage

Salt grain

Grain matters: one teaspoon of Diamond Crystal weighs half as much as one teaspoon of fine sea salt. Weigh in grams when you can.

35g salt

6.15 tsp 2.05 tbsp 1.23 oz

Based on Fine sea salt at 5.69 g/tsp.

Flavour-forward. Ferment will be slower; brine will taste salty. Good for pickles and hot-sauce mashes that need long shelf life.

All salt grains

Grain	Grams	Teaspoons	Tablespoons
Diamond Crystal kosher	35 g	12.32	4.11
Morton kosher	35 g	7.29	2.43
Fine sea salt	35 g	6.15	2.05
Pickling / canning	35 g	6.36	2.12

Default salt: 3.50 %
Salt range: 3.00% – 5.00%
Time @ 68 °F: 7.0 days
Target pH: 3.60
Water content: ~96%
Preferred styles: brine pickle half sour, brine pickle full sour

Technique

Use brine-pickling method, not dry-salt. Cover cucumbers completely with 3.5% brine (35g salt per liter water). Weigh down to keep submerged. 3-5 days at 68-72°F for half-sour (still crunchy, mildly tangy), 10-14 days for full-sour. Add 1 dill head + 2 cloves garlic per quart for classic flavor. Grape or oak leaf adds tannin for crunch.

Source: NCHFP (UGA) — Fermented Dill Pickles.