Dry-salted vegetables, the general method
Not a recipe for one vegetable but the shape all the dry-salted ones on this site share. Read this once and the lime pickle, the cucumber and the mustard leaf pages are variations you can already follow.
7 steps, every one quoted from FAO Bulletin 134 5.6.1. The step labels are this site's; the sentences under them are not.
The ratio, as the source wrote it
3 kg per 100 kg of vegetables
For every 100 kg of vegetables 3 kg of salt is needed.
Left as a ratio rather than converted to a percentage, and not scaled into a table. It multiplies straight up or down, but the sentence carrying the figure often carries a condition with it, and separating the two is how a number arrives here looking more certain than its source made it.
Every number the source states
- Salt
- 3 kg per 100 kg of vegetables
- Fermentation time
- one to four weeks
- Time for the brine to form
- about 24 hours
- Layer depth
- about 2.5cm
For every 100 kg of vegetables 3 kg of salt is needed.
Fermentation takes between one and four weeks depending on the ambient temperature.
A cloth is placed above the vegetables and a weight added to compress the vegetables and assist the formation of a brine which takes about 24 hours.
The vegetables are placed in a layer of about 2.5cm depth in the fermenting container (a barrel or keg).
Method
Numbered for your place in the list. Every sentence below is the source's own, verified against the page it came from when this table was last built from the sources.
Prepare
The vegetable is prepared, washed in potable cold water and drained.
Weigh the salt
For every 100 kg of vegetables 3 kg of salt is needed.
Layer
The vegetables are placed in a layer of about 2.5cm depth in the fermenting container (a barrel or keg). Salt is sprinkled over the vegetables.
Repeat
Another layer of vegetables is added and more salt added. This is repeated until the container is three quarters full.
Weight it
A cloth is placed above the vegetables and a weight added to compress the vegetables and assist the formation of a brine which takes about 24 hours.
Watch for the start
As soon as the brine is formed, fermentation starts and bubbles of carbon dioxide begin to appear.
Judge the end by the bubbles
Fermentation takes between one and four weeks depending on the ambient temperature. Fermentation is complete when no more bubbles appear, after which time the pickle can be packaged in a variety of mixtures.
What else the source says
- What the salt is doing
- With dry salting, the vegetable is treated with dry salt. The salt extracts the juice from the vegetable and creates the brine.
Before you make this
This site is a reference and not a food safety authority. It reports what named sources published and does not certify that any preparation is safe. The safety page sets out what the sources themselves say about acidity, about surface growth and about when to throw something away, and equipment lists the instruments the numbers above cannot be checked without.
The full record for this pickle, including every source consulted and the ones that disagree, is on its tradition page.
Other dry-salted recipes
- Sauerkraut, USDA home method
- Dry-salted lime pickle
- Dry-salted cucumber pickle
- Sauerkraut
- Hum choy
- Pak-gard-dong
- Tempoyak
Method and asides from FAO 134 Battcock, M. and Azam-Ali, S. (1998) Fermented fruits and vegetables: A global perspective. FAO Agricultural Services Bulletin No. 134. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome. Numbers from the same source, extracted separately and listed on methodology.