My kimchi taught me about salt types

I used iodized salt for my kimchi before. I heard it could slow the ferment, so I tried sea salt and the taste improved. What salt do you use for your projects?

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3 Comments

kai9427mo ago

Yeah, I had that same cloudy brine thing happen with iodized salt. It's wild how much of a difference just switching to plain salt makes, right? I use coarse sea salt for pretty much everything now, even my sauerkraut.

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samhernandez7mo ago

Iodized salt has anti-caking agents that mess with the good bacteria. Switched to coarse sea salt for my last batch. Ferment was faster, flavor was cleaner. Now I use pink Himalayan salt sometimes for mineral taste. Just avoid anything with iodine or additives. Plain kosher salt works great too.

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brown.ben7mo ago

Ever tried using pickling salt for your ferments? I went through a phase where I tested everything from sea salt to rock salt for my kimchi. The Himalayan salt looks pretty, but I always come back to diamond crystal kosher because it dissolves evenly. Avoid anything with iodine or additives, like you said, or you'll get slow fermentation and off flavors. Learned that lesson after a few cloudy brines.

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