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Honestly thought salt was salt until I ruined 3 batches of pickles

I've been doing fermented pickles for about 7 months now, always using regular table salt with iodine. Last week I made 3 jars of cucumber spears and they all came out mushy and weird colored. A guy at my local farmers market in Portland saw me buying pickling cukes and asked what salt I use. He said the iodine in table salt messes with the fermentation bacteria and makes everything soft. I switched to plain kosher salt for my next batch and they came out perfectly crisp after 10 days. Has anyone else dealt with mushy ferments and figured out it was just the salt?

3 comments

3 Comments

stella_murray18d ago

Oh man, isn't it wild how such a little thing can totally wreck something? I had the same problem with my first batch of sauerkraut. Used regular iodized salt and it came out slimy and gross after two weeks. Switched to canning salt and everything turned out perfect, crunchy and tangy just like I wanted. I guess that iodine really does kill off the good bacteria or something. Now I just keep a big box of kosher salt in my pantry for all my ferments and it's been smooth sailing ever since. Live and learn I guess.

lisak2618d ago

Wait wait wait, YOU actually used iodized salt on your first batch too?? I thought I was the only dummy who did that, I'm so relieved I'm not alone lmao

abbyg1418d ago

3 batches of sauerkraut went slimy before I figured out it was the iodized salt too. That stuff is poison for ferments apparently.