Sauerkrauts

These are the classic dry-salt ferments. This is my favourite way of preparing a ferment. You do have to firmly massage and pack the vegetables, and some people find the method quite hard on the hands, but the result is so delicious it is definitely worth it.

This dry-salt method of fermenting requires you to cut your vegetables fairly thinly or even grate them. The smaller or thinner the vegetable slices, the easier it is to get the water out through osmosis. If you find there is not enough water coming out then just keep massaging a little harder and a little longer. On occasions, especially if you chopped your vegetables too large, you might have to add a bit of filtered water. If you add more water than 100ml per 1kg (3.5fl oz per 2¼lb) of vegetable you might want to add 1% salt to the water to keep the proper percentage of saline.