After 8 years of making kimchi I finally realized my salt was way off

I always just guessed on the salt amount when I started fermenting back in 2013, never measured anything. Last month I saw a post in here about using exactly 2% salt by weight for kimchi and decided to try it with a scale. The texture and taste came out way better than my old batches - has anyone else had that moment where they realized a basic step was the problem the whole time?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_vera5d ago

You finally realized" is putting it mildly... I see it totally different though. Measuring salt by weight with a scale feels like overcomplicating something that's worked for centuries. My grandmother never measured a thing and her kimchi was amazing. I'm not saying exact measurements are bad, but I've been making it by feel and taste for over a decade and it's always turned out fine. Sometimes you just gotta trust your instincts in the kitchen instead of turning it into a science experiment.

oliver_torres45d ago

Trusting your instincts" - said like someone whose kimchi hasn't spontaneously decided to go on a personal fermentation journey without warning. I tried the 'feel it out' method once and ended up with a batch so salty it could have been used to de-ice my driveway. Turned out my instincts are basically useless, you know, like that friend who insists they can parallel park but takes 15 tries. Now I use a scale, mostly because my taste buds clearly can't be trusted with important decisions like this.