Almost any firm vegetable can be lacto-fermented: salt it, keep it under liquid, and let the lactic acid bacteria already on it turn its sugars into acid. The easiest ones are firm and crisp – cabbage, carrots, cucumbers, beets, turnips, cauliflower – because they stay crunchy and sour reliably. This page lists the vegetables we’ve written full guides for, with the method, salt and typical time for each, and flags the few that need extra care. To work out the salt in grams for any weight, use the salt and brine calculator.
The Three Things That Matter
- Salt, weighed. Salt holds back spoilage microbes while lactic acid bacteria get going, and it keeps vegetables crisp. The National Center for Home Food Preservation is blunt: don’t try to make sauerkraut or fermented pickles by cutting back on the salt (NCHFP). Weigh it rather than using spoons – a tablespoon of fine salt weighs about 18 g, so “two tablespoons per quart” is nearer 4% than 2%.
- Under the liquid. Shredded vegetables are dry-salted (salt as a percentage of the vegetable’s weight) and pressed until their own juice covers them; pieces and whole vegetables go into a brine (salt as a percentage of the water). Either way, keep everything weighed down below the surface.
- Sour, then cold. Ferment at room temperature until the vegetables taste clearly sour, then refrigerate. A properly soured brine is well below pH 4.6, the line US regulations use for acidified foods (21 CFR 114). Regular dill pickles and sauerkraut take about 3 weeks; most cut vegetables are sour in 1–2 weeks (NCHFP).
Vegetable by Vegetable
Times are for about 18–24°C (65–75°F); warmer kitchens are faster, cooler ones slower. Brine percentages are salt by weight of the water. Follow each guide for the full recipe.
| Vegetable | Method | Salt | Typical time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cabbage (sauerkraut) | Dry salt, shredded | 2–2.5% of the cabbage | 3–4 weeks |
| Cucumbers (dill pickles) | Brine, whole | NCHFP brine (with a little vinegar) | 3–4 weeks; half-sours from day 3 |
| Carrots | Brine, sticks or coins | 2–3% of the water | 5–10 days |
| Beets | Brine, sliced | 2–3% | 7–14 days |
| Turnips | Brine, sticks | 3% | 5–10 days |
| Radishes | Brine, sliced or halved | 3% | 3–5 days (slices); 5–10 (daikon, whole) |
| Green beans (dilly beans) | Brine, whole, upright | 3% | 5–10 days |
| Cauliflower | Brine, florets | 2.5% | 5–10 days |
| Broccoli | Brine, florets and peeled stems | 2% | 5–10 days |
| Brussels sprouts | Brine, halved | 2–3% | 5–10 days |
| Peppers, hot or sweet | Brine, sliced or pricked | 2–3% | 5–10 days |
| Asparagus | Brine, whole spears | 3% | 3–7 days |
| Onions | Dry salt (sliced) or brine (pearl) | 2% (sliced); 3% (pearl) | 3–7 days; 5–10 for pearl |
| Leeks | Brine, sliced | 2% | 3–7 days |
| Green tomatoes | Brine, whole or halved (mature-green only) | 3% | 1–2 weeks |
| Ripe tomatoes | Dry salt, chopped (salsa base) | 2% of the tomatoes | 3–5 days |
| Zucchini and summer squash | Brine, thick spears | 3% | 3–5 days (refrigerate promptly) |
| Sweet potato | Brine, raw coins | 2.5% | 3–5 days |
| Sweet corn (relish) | Dry salt, kernels with peppers and onion | 2% of everything | 2–4 days |
| Kale | Brine, torn leaves | 2–3% | 7–14 days |
| Collard greens | Dry salt, ribbons | 2% of the greens | 5–10 days |
| Swiss chard | Brine, stems and leaves | 3% | 5–10 days |
| Spinach | Dry salt, like kraut | 2% | 3–7 days |
For sauerkraut the NCHFP recipe is 3 tablespoons of canning salt per 5 lb of cabbage – about 2–2.5% by weight (NCHFP). For cucumbers, the NCHFP says to cut a 1/16-inch slice off the blossom end (NCHFP).
Vegetables That Need Extra Care
- High-nitrate leafy greens (Swiss chard, spinach, also kale and collards): nitrate turns partly into nitrite early in fermentation and falls as the ferment sours, so eat them only when evenly sour and don’t give them to babies. In market samples, chard had more nitrate than spinach or cabbage (Luetic et al., 2025).
- Mushrooms: cook them briefly first and add some brine from an active ferment – see fermented mushrooms.
- Garlic: raw garlic slows the bacteria, so a jar of garlic in brine can take a long time to become acidic, and until then it’s a botulism risk. There’s no tested home recipe; see fermented garlic for the safer options. Garlic as one of the flavourings in a vegetable brine is fine.
- Beans and other low-acid foods in sealed jars: don’t improvise. Home-canned and home-preserved low-acid foods are a common source of botulism (CDC); see fermented beans for the traditional methods that are safe.
- Very watery vegetables (zucchini, lettuce) tend to go soft; use thick pieces, a 3% brine and a short ferment – see fermented zucchini. That’s about texture, not safety.
When Something Goes Wrong
A flat white film is usually kahm yeast and can be skimmed; fuzzy or coloured mould, sliminess or a rotten smell mean the batch goes in the bin. Soft vegetables usually mean too little salt or too much warmth. See our troubleshooting guide and the NCHFP’s list of causes and solutions for problems with fermented pickles. If you’re just starting out, see our first fermentation projects.
Vegetable Ferments From Around the World
Many traditions mix vegetables in one jar: Korean kimchi variations, Salvadoran curtido, Sichuan pao cai, Persian torshi and Balkan turšija. If you want pickles without fermenting, quick vinegar pickles are ready in a day or two, but have no live cultures.