How do you calculate salt for fermentation?
“Two percent” sounds precise. Until we ask: two percent of what?
A percentage of vegetable mass
When a recipe uses vegetable mass, calculate salt = vegetable mass × percentage / 100. Arithmetic example: 1000 g of vegetables at 2% gives 20 g of salt. The empty container’s mass is excluded.
Water percentage versus brine percentage
Adding 20 g of salt to 1000 g of water gives 2 g per 100 g of water, but approximately 1.96% of the final solution’s mass. To make a 2% solution by mass from 1000 g of water, calculate 1000 × 2 / 98, or about 20.41 g of salt. These conventions are not interchangeable.
Read the source first
Check whether salt is based on vegetables, water, their combined mass or the final solution. This calculator covers the three stated conventions. Do not guess a conversion if the source uses another basis or volume. Do not independently reduce the salt required in fermented recipes.
Leave a clear record
Write down both the ingredient mass and salt mass, together with the formula and recipe source. “2%” alone is insufficient for someone trying to reproduce your calculation later.
Salt calculator: define the basis first
Enter the percentage specified by a tested recipe. This is arithmetic: the calculator does not select a safe concentration or validate a process.
salt = vegetable mass × percentage / 100