Cheese Salting Calculator
Salt cheese curd by percent with total and per unit shown.
What it does
Salt seasons curd, firms rind, and slows cultures. Makers dose by percent of curd weight: two percent on a kilogram is twenty grams. Percent keeps batches repeatable across sizes.
The tool above takes cheese weight and salt percent and returns salt, salted total, and rate per kilo or per pound. The defaults 1000 g at 2 percent match the worked example, so the page opens showing 20 g. Switch to imperial for ounces.
Salt is cheese times percent over 100. Total adds salt back. Rate scales to 10 times percent in grams per kilo, or 0.16 times percent in ounces per pound. Here 2 percent gives 20 g/kg and 0.32 oz/lb.
Use non iodized salt for clean flavor and weigh instead of spooning. Styles vary widely: feta brines differ from cheddar dry salting. Follow tested recipes for safety and timing.
This page shows the formula, one full hand checked example at 1000 g, a reference table, and practice checks that run through the tool in both unit systems.
How to use
- Pick Metric (g) or Imperial (oz).
- Weigh the curd.
- Type salt percent, often 1 to 3.
- Read Salt to add.
- Read Salted total for yield.
- Mix evenly and follow recipe timing.
Formula
- cheese
- Curd weight.
- pct
- Salt percent.
- rate
- 20 g/kg or 0.32 oz/lb at 2 percent.
Weight percent here, not volume spoons. Volume salt varies by crystal, weight repeats.
Worked example
Example: 1000 g at 2 percent
Salt a kilo of curd at two percent.
- Salt: 1000 x 2 / 100 = 20 g.
- Total: 1000 + 20 = 1020 g.
- Rate: 2 x 10 = 20 g/kg.
- Imperial mirror 35.3 oz gives 0.71 oz salt.
- Method: sprinkle, rest, stir, drain per recipe.
- Check: 20 / 1020 is near 1.96 percent of salted total.
Reference table
| Percent | Salt | Total |
|---|---|---|
| 1 % | 10 g | 1010 g |
| 2 % | 20 g | 1020 g |
| 3 % | 30 g | 1030 g |
Limits
- Weight percent only. Spoon volumes vary.
- No safety model. Follow tested cheese recipes.
- Non iodized assumed for flavor.
- Brined styles need brine tables, not dry math.
Common mistakes
- Spooning instead of weighing salt.
- Salting by salted total instead of curd weight.
- Using iodized where flavor suffers.
- Over salting soft styles past recipe.
- Mixing ounces with grams in one run.
Try it yourself
Quick checks. Answers sit tucked under each question.
500 g at 2 percent?
Salt 10 g, total 510 g, rate 20 g/kg.
1000 g at 1 percent?
Salt 10 g, total 1010 g.
Questions
1000 g at 2?
20 g salt.
Rate?
20 g/kg or 0.32 oz/lb at 2 percent.
Spoons?
Weigh. Crystals pack differently.
Iodized?
Prefer non iodized for clean flavor.
Total?
Cheese plus salt.
Brine?
Needs brine percent tables, not this dry tool.