Aug. 18, 2025
Chemicals
Find out what is calcium chloride(ko,rm,ms) and how to use it in your fermentations!
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Calcium chloride is a salt used to preserve the texture of food. It is often used in canning, but it can also be used in fermentation!
For example, it is a powerful weapon for keeping pickles crunchy, whether they are canned or fermented.
This article will demystify calcium chloride and give you all the information you need for using it in your fermentations.
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Calcium chloride is a food additive used to keep food textured. It should not be confused with table salt, which is sodium chloride!
Calcium chloride is found under several names:
It is very often found among the ingredients of commercial pickles, as it helps to keep the pickles crunchy.
Calcium chloride is also used in cheese making, as a source of electrolytes in sports drinks, and in the preparation of canned tomatoes.
Calcium chloride is found in liquid form and as small white granules that dissolve quickly in water.
Calcium chloride is safe to use, just like salt or baking soda!
Calcium chloride is a food additive that has been tested and approved by the World Health Organization, Health Canada, the FDA (USA), and European standards.
It is officially classified as a firming agent. It is used in the food industry, but also by winemakers, brewers, and molecular gastronomy chefs.
At the doses used in food, it has been recognized as safe. However, it is necessary to obtain food-grade calcium chloride.
Calcium chloride is mainly used in canning to make crunchy pickles.
It can also be used in lacto-fermentation! Fermentation tends to soften vegetables, so using calcium chloride helps keep the vegetables crunchy.
Calcium chloride is an alternative to lime and alum, both of which were used in the past to keep food crunchy during canning.
Alum is not recommended for canning, as it can be dangerous in high doses. Lime, for its part, requires several rinses and can affect the acidity of the fermentation. Calcium chloride is safer and easier to use than these products.
Calcium chloride is not required for fermenting, but it is very useful!
Some of our favourite fermented vegetables for using calcium chloride are:
Add calcium chloride to the recipe together with the salt. It dilutes quickly in water or brine.
You need very little calcium chloride to have a noticeable effect!
For 1 kg of vegetables (or 1 litre jar), add ¼ tsp. of calcium chloride.
¼ tsp. is about 1.15 g of calcium chloride or 0.12% of the weight of the recipe.
According to Canadian standards, up to 0.4% calcium chloride can be added, or 4 g or ¾ teaspoon per 1L jar. However, it’s usually not necessary to add that much; ¼ teaspoon per kg is enough to keep the fermented vegetables crunchy.
For more information, see our recipe for crunchy pickles.
Calcium chloride can be purchased online or in some shops that sell canning supplies.
Suggested reading:If you are looking for more details, kindly visit Sodium Bicarbonate Food Grade.
$8.00
Calcium chloride (CaCl2) is a type of salt used to keep food crisp and firm.
Shop nowCalcium chloride is marketed as “Pickle Crisp“, “Xtra Crunch“, or simply “calcium chloride“. Calcium chloride can also be found in liquid form.
Since only a very small amount is needed per jar, a bag of calcium chloride will last a long time!
Some spice mixes for pickles also contain calcium chloride.
It is important to use only food-grade calcium chloride.
Calcium chloride is very sensitive to moisture and can clump together into big lumps.
Be sure to store your calcium chloride in a tightly sealed container in a cool and dry environment.
Calcium chloride is safe and non-toxic.
Just use it in recommended amounts.
In cooking, when we talk about salt, we are referring to sodium chloride. Whatever the type of salt used (sea salt, table salt, pink salt, Himalayan salt, kosher salt, Celtic salt, etc.), its chemical formula is always sodium chloride (NaCl).
Calcium chloride (CaCl2) is also a salt, but from a chemical point of view, they are different!
Calcium chloride and sodium chloride are safe and edible food additives.
Calcium chloride has a salty taste. If too much is used, it can also add a slight bitterness.
Yes, calcium chloride is vegan and can be used in vegan recipes.
Yes, calcium chloride is an accepted food additive in organic certifications.
Calcium chloride is highly effective, and one of the most hygroscopic materials, when it comes to absorbing moisture from the surrounding air.
Calcium chloride is an inorganic compound – a salt with the chemical formula CaCl2. It is white flakes or pellets at room temperature, and is highly soluble in water. Calcium chloride desiccants work well over a temperature range from freezing point up to 80 °C or more. Calcium chloride is the active compound in all Absortech products.
Calcium chloride is often used for de-icing or dust control on gravel roads, in food or as the absorbing agent in desiccants. In much of the world, calcium chloride is derived from limestone as a by-product of the Solvay process. Calcium chloride can also be obtained from brine purification.
Calcium chloride is not hazardous to the environment but classified as H319 according to GHS (causes serious eye irritation).
Calcium chloride is available in different concentrations and is often specified as 74-77% or 94-97% depending on the purity level. The higher the concentration, the better the absorption capacity. Meaning a desiccant with 94-97% CaCl2 has the ability to absorb more moisture than 74-77% CaCl2.
Absortech uses calcium chloride as the absorbing agent in our desiccants due to its high efficiency compared to other types of desiccants, such as silica gel and clay desiccants.
Calcium chloride (CaCl2) absorbs moisture from the air effectively. It can attract several times its own weight in water, dissolving into a liquid brine if the air is humid enough and the temperature is high enough. The liquid brine is either trapped inside a collector or mixed with a modified starch and thereby formed as a gel inside its packaging.
Calcium chloride desiccant absorbs more moisture when the relative humidity (RH) of the surrounding air is higher. And its absorption increases exponentially as RH rises, which is a remarkable result compared to other desiccants like silica gel and clay.
Other desiccants may include toxic substances. For example, silica gel with indicators, can include the toxic substance cobalt. Whereas calcium chloride is a naturally occurring substance classified as non-hazardous to the environment.
But the main advantage of using calcium chloride desiccants compared to other types of desiccants is, of course, that these desiccants are much more efficient and thereby the amount and weight of desiccants used for the same protection is much lower.
By choosing the most efficient desiccants, companies can reduce material consumption, minimize waste, and lower transport-related emissions. These improvements contribute directly to lowering greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, particularly CO₂—an essential step toward more sustainable logistics and one of th emost important challenges that we have for the future.
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