Best Salts for Fermenting Vegetables

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Salt is the only ingredient doing real work besides the vegetables. It pulls out water, slows spoilage organisms and keeps pectin firm, so the type you use shows up in crunch, colour and flavour. What varies is purity and grain size: iodine and anti-caking agents can dull a ferment, and coarse crystals dissolve slowly enough to throw off a quick brine. Weight, not volume, keeps batches repeatable, since flake and crystal salts measure very differently by spoon. We compared ingredient lists, grain size, how readily each dissolved in cold brine, and price per kilo for regular use. Fine pickling salt is the easy default for jar ferments and brines. Coarse sea salt suits crocks and kimchi paste where slower dissolving is fine. Bulk bags make sense for autumn preserving, and mineral-rich grey or Korean solar salts are for fermenters who want the flavour differences those bring.