Mexican Sea Salt troubles

[loweyj]

Been playing with sausage recipes here in Mexico (snow bird)
Hard to find different grades of salt in the area I am in. Most readily available is coarse sea salt. I do weigh my ingredients and I was under the assumption that when going by weight, the saltiness will be equal.

Not with this Salt! In Canada my formula runs 1.3%. I tried that here with this Sea salt and it was super salty. I have brought that figure down to .65% and it is almost where it needs to be.

Anyone have any input on why this is the case?
Appreciate the help/input !

 

[oberst]

I thought salt was a basic element, like pure lead!? Maybe there’s a scientist on the forum.

 

[DanMcG]

I assume your scale is right on? Other then that, salt is basically salt and there shouldn't be much difference other then minerals.

 

[Mauritius]

Do you have a way to grind the salt so it's more fine, or dissolve it in liquid first? It may be that it's not getting evenly distributed in the mix.

 

[loweyj]

Scale is bang on. Possibly minerals play a part.. I really don't know.

 

[daveomak]

If you used table salt in Canada, maybe the fillers diluted the salt... I know Kosher salt taste milder than table salt.. Kosher has a good taste... table, not so much...

 

[loweyj]

I do use Kosher back in Canada. Have not found any here.

 

[SmokyMose]

I think you’ve found your own solution. Just back it off a little.
Maybe find a Mexican recipe for Chorizo and see what sort of salt it calls for?

 

[loweyj]

Do you have a way to grind the salt so it's more fine, or dissolve it in liquid first? It may be that it's not getting evenly distributed in the mix.

Sorry just saw your post now... I do blitz it to a fine powder in my spice grinder.

 

[loweyj]

I think you’ve found your own solution. Just back it off a little.
Maybe find a Mexican recipe for Chorizo and see what sort of salt it calls for?

Great idea !!! Thanks !

 

[loweyj]

Thought I should come back and let you all know what I found.... turns out the pork I purchased here in Mexico is pumped. I dropped my % to .4 instead of the usual 1.7% and all is fine. Had nothing to do with the salt, all to do with the pork.

'ALWAYS READ THE LABEL !!!

 

[dward51]

Ahhhh.... "Enhanced" pork pumped with brine. So basically you ended up unknowingly adding salt to a salted product. I think you found your answer.

Salt should be salt, especially if measured by weight as the crystal/flake size does not matter in weight. Slight variations in taste can come from minerals in sea salt, "iodized" salt, etc... but the basic material is just salt. Glad you figured it out.

 

[indaswamp]

Thought I should come back and let you all know what I found.... turns out the pork I purchased here in Mexico is pumped. I dropped my % to .4 instead of the usual 1.7% and all is fine. Had nothing to do with the salt, all to do with the pork.

'ALWAYS READ THE LABEL !!!

There ya go.... glad you figured it out. I was kind of perplexed reading this thread until I got to this post.

 

[Gwanger]

I do use Kosher back in Canada. Have not found any here.

table salt has a certain amount of anti caking agents not so in Kosher or pickling salt this might be the difference,would b worth researching.