Weigh your trimmed cabbage or veg, pick a ratio, and get the exact salt weight to use — in grams and ounces, from an input in grams, kilograms, ounces or pounds.
Salt does two jobs in a vegetable ferment: it draws water out of the cabbage or veg by osmosis to form the brine the vegetables sit in, and it suppresses the spoilage organisms that would otherwise take hold before the ferment's own acidity becomes protective. Both of those depend on the salt being a consistent proportion of the vegetable's weight, which is why this calculator works in weight rather than a fixed spoon count.
2% of trimmed vegetable weight is the most widely used starting ratio, with a workable range of roughly 1.5% to 3%. Lower in that range ferments faster and tastes tangier and less salty, but leaves a narrower safety margin; higher in the range slows the ferment, keeps more crunch, and tastes saltier. Going meaningfully below 1.5% is where the risk of spoilage rather than fermentation starts to climb.
Weight is what matters, not volume, because salt crystals pack very differently — a level tablespoon of fine table salt weighs noticeably more than the same tablespoon of flaky sea salt or coarse kosher salt. Two cooks using "one tablespoon per pound" with two different salts can end up with meaningfully different ratios; a gram scale removes that variable entirely.
2% of the trimmed vegetable weight is the most commonly used starting point, with a safe working range of roughly 1.5% to 3% depending on taste and climate. Lower in the range gives a faster, tangier ferment; higher gives a slower, crisper, saltier one.
Salt crystal size varies a lot between types — a tablespoon of fine table salt weighs noticeably more than a tablespoon of flaky sea salt or coarse kosher salt. Since the ratio that matters for safe fermentation is salt-to-vegetable weight, a gram scale gives a consistent result regardless of which salt is in your cupboard; a volume measure doesn't.
It's not recommended. Salt is what suppresses spoilage organisms for long enough that the fermentation's own acidity can take over as the preservative. Below about 1.5% you're increasing the risk of soft, spoiled or off-tasting kraut rather than a reliable ferment.
Plain, non-iodized salt with no anti-caking agents — pickling or canning salt, kosher salt, or additive-free sea salt all work. Iodine and anti-caking additives can discolour the kraut or slow the ferment, and by weight they don't change the ratio this calculator gives you.
