Salt brine ratio hack finally fixed my mushy pickles

I kept getting limp pickles that tasted fine but had zero crunch, tried every 'low salt' recipe I found online. Then my neighbor who's been fermenting for 30 years told me to stop messing around and use exactly 3.5% salt by weight of the water. Did that with my Kirby cucumbers from the farmers market last month and they came out perfect, like biting into a fresh one. Anyone else struggle with finding that sweet spot for brine percentages?

2 comments

2 Comments

jadep4123d ago

A friend of mine swears by adding a grape leaf to each jar for crunch.

morganhayes23d ago

Yeah but has your friend actually tested it side by side with a jar that didn't have one? I keep hearing people say it works but I tried it myself and couldn't tell the difference between the grape leaf batch and the ones without. The internet is full of old wives' tales about pickling that just won't die. Did they use fresh leaves or dried ones because I feel like that probably matters too.