Discussion:
Finding Cheese Salt
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Todd
19 years ago
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Hello everyone,
I'm interested in making my own cheese. I've bought Ricki Carrol's
Home Cheesemaking book, and have acquired a reliable source of raw
milk. I have rennet and cultures, but I need some cheese salt before I
can make more advanced cheeses. The recipe I'm planning to use calls
for 2 pounds of salt for brining. www.cheesemaking.com sells 'flaked
cheese salt' for $3 for 8oz. This seems a bit pricey. I've read that
iodine will inhibit the bacteria that helps cheese age, but this is
confusing because naturally occuring salt has trace iodine. Surely
historical cheesemakers were adding natural salts to their cheeses, and
if iodine is found naturally, then it must not be entirely bad. I
generally use 'Real Salt' (http://tinyurl.com/s3ld3) which says it
contains "a full complement of natural trace minerals, including
iodine." Will this work for cheesemaking? If the salt cannot contain
any iodine, where can I find cheese salt in bulk? Thanks in advance.

-Todd
Andreas Davour
19 years ago
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...
Not being knowledgable about old cheese making, or chemistry, I still
think that statement about iodine and bacteria sounds dubious.

/andreas
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Todd
19 years ago
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I asked the local cheese seller and he said that he'd never heard of
iodine being an issue, and this research paper looks at the iodized
salt issue,
http://www.micronutrient.org/Salt_CD/4.0_useful/4.1_fulltext/pdfs/4.1.4.pdf
I think the iodine inhibiting bacteria is questionable too, I think
I'll be fine with kosher, non-iodized salt.
Dave Ryman
19 years ago
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...
Just about to start cheese making myself. Have visited various cheese
websites and a real dairy, obtained vegetarian rennet, and prepared
Mesophillic and Thermophillic cultures. Have made Yoghurt and cream
cheese so far (starting on the simpler stuff and building up from there).
A couple of disasters with the yoghurt - strangely, after I hadn't made
it for a month or so, and had to begin with fresh live yoghurt from the
supermarket (maybe these yoghurts aren't as live as they're supposed to
be!). Also had a mishap with one batch of cream cheese - used double
cream instead of single, and ended up with butter! Very nice butter,
though! Just started work on a simple cheese press.

Back to the subject, anyway. I know from my Biology and Chemistry lessons
at school that Iodine is an anti-bacterial agent, and I can therefore see
the logic of the argument. However, the amount of iodine involved is very
small, and salt itself is an anti-bacterial agent anyway (sucks the water
out of the bacteria so that they die). I thought that the action of the
bacteria in cheese was occuring inside the rind, not on the surface
(where mould grows), so I can't see that iodine would be an issue, but
that's IMHO.
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Dave

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19 years ago
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I have used canning & pickling salt with good reliability for about a
year now. It is iodine free, the same stuff as "cheese salt" just not
in flake form as you would get from Cheesemaking.com. It should be
available at any grocery store and is quite affordable compared to
"cheese salt."
Jack Schmidling
19 years ago
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Post by Dave Ryman
However, the amount of iodine involved is very
small, and salt itself is an anti-bacterial agent anyway (sucks the water
out of the bacteria so that they die). I thought that the action of the
bacteria in cheese was occuring inside the rind, not on the surface
(where mould grows), so I can't see that iodine would be an issue, but
that's IMHO.
Humble or not, it is off on a tangent. I do not believe the iodine
issue has anything to do with bacteria but creates some sort of
chemistry imbalance.

But even if... bactericides are or can be selective. For example, there
are many bacteria that are salt tolerant. We could not have sauer kraut
or pickles if this were not so. It inhibits spoilage organisms but
allows acid producing ones to survive. The same applies to cheese.
Iodine is an across the board bactericide.

Unless you can attest to the fact as prove by experiments, that iodized
salt is ok for cheese, I would stick with the opinion of the experts.

Jack Schmidling
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Dave Ryman
19 years ago
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...
"I can't see that Iodine would be an issue" is not the same as "Don't
worry, Iodine is not an issue", I'm sorry if I gave anyone the impression
it was a statement of fact rather than a thought for discussion.

Perhaps if someone posted some decent information about the affect of the
small amount of Iodine in table salt here, in terms of what it does to
the cheese, we could all come out of the dark: Rather than leaving a
collection of amateurs going through a learning process (like myself) to
fumble around for the answer.
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Dave

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Jack Schmidling
19 years ago
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Post by Dave Ryman
Perhaps if someone posted some decent information about the affect of the
small amount of Iodine in table salt here, in terms of what it does to
the cheese, we could all come out of the dark: Rather than leaving a
collection of amateurs going through a learning process (like myself) to
fumble around for the answer...
It would be of academic interest but if you are going through a learning
process, it would seem that you would just accept the fact and do as
advised and use non iodized salt. There are enough unknowns that it
makes to sense to argue the knowns at this point.

If you really need to know and can't find the answer, you have a great
opportunity to do the experiments, find out yourself and enlighten us.

For what it's worth, I have two of the best tomes available on
cheesemaking and the answer is not in them, just the caution to avoid
iodized salt.

js
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Dave Ryman
19 years ago
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...
I for one am not happy with taking something at face value without some
grain of understanding. If I was, I wouldn't be looking at making cheese at
home at all - why bother? I can buy a decent enough Yarg, Cheddar or Brie
from the shops, and enjoy it without wondering how it's made: Curiosity
means that I want to give it a try.

Some references I found on the web suggest that Iodine (since it kills
every type of bacteria) prevents the proper maturing of the cheese. It's
the distinction between some bacteria being killed by regular salt (Sodium)
and ALL bacteria being killed by Iodine that seems to be the important
fact.

I have found some references that show that Mozerella and Cottage cheese
have high concentrations of Iodine, and that they actually add iodine to
Guyere in Switzerland: All of these are relatively unmature cheeses when
sold and served, which (with the info in my previous paragraph) suggests
that Iodine interferes with maturing of the cheese rather than having any
other undesired effects.

One other reference I found refers to Iodine in salt added to the cheese
imparting it with a greenish hue. I would guess this is some sort of
reaction between Iodine and something in the cheese to form an Iodine salt?
Any chemists out there?

Some references (you may need to do string searches for "Cheese" or
"Iodine", since some of these articles are not specifically aimed at
addressing the question of iodine in salt for cheesemaking):

http://www.countrysidemag.com/issues/3_1999.htm
http://www.thyroid-info.com/articles/germanyiodine.htm
http://www.cheesesupply.com/product_info.php/products_id/334
http://www.unicef.org/ceecis/reallives_4139.html

Anyone got anything to add?
--
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Dave

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Jack Schmidling
19 years ago
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Post by Dave Ryman
Some references I found on the web suggest that Iodine (since it kills
every type of bacteria) prevents the proper maturing of the cheese. It's
the distinction between some bacteria being killed by regular salt (Sodium)
and ALL bacteria being killed by Iodine that seems to be the important
fact.
The only refs for that info are cheesemaking sources that obviously have
done no research and just parrot what others have said.

Both of the statements need to be qualified. Salt will kill all
relevant bacteria at a sufficient level of concentration and iodine will
kill no bacterial at a low enough concentration.

Try making sauer kraut with a saturated salt solution.

Iodine used as an antiseptic is on the order 20% concentration. The
iodine content of salt is .006%. The residual salt in typical cheese is
about 1% so move the decimal point two more to the left and you get
.000006% iodine in cheese. That is many orders of magnitude removed
from a lethal dose to any organism I know of on this planet.

Iodine is put in salt to supplant a potential deficiency in diets. It
is probably no longer necessary but like daylight savings time, it will
never go away.
Post by Dave Ryman
One other reference I found refers to Iodine in salt added to the cheese
imparting it with a greenish hue....
Again, point to something other than copycat promotional information.
Starch turns black in the presence of high concentrations of iodine.
This is a tool used by brewers to determine when the starch has been
converted to sugar.
Post by Dave Ryman
Some references (you may need to do string searches for "Cheese" or
"Iodine", since some of these articles are not specifically aimed at
http://www.countrysidemag.com/issues/3_1999.htm
http://www.thyroid-info.com/articles/germanyiodine.htm
http://www.cheesesupply.com/product_info.php/products_id/334
http://www.unicef.org/ceecis/reallives_4139.html
Anyone got anything to add?
Nothing in this relative to real info on the issue. Keep hunting.

It's beginning to look to me like just one more of those things that is
done because its done. However, as non iodized salt is readily
available, it becomes an issue of priorities for me.

You may also want to look into all the other chemicals put into salt in
addition to iodine that could actually be the source of problems that
have been misanalysed.

Even Kosher salt has cyanide compounds to prevent caking.

js
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Dave Ryman
19 years ago
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Post by Jack Schmidling
Post by Dave Ryman
Some references I found on the web suggest that Iodine (since it
kills every type of bacteria) prevents the proper maturing of the
cheese. It's the distinction between some bacteria being killed by
regular salt (Sodium) and ALL bacteria being killed by Iodine that
seems to be the important fact.
The only refs for that info are cheesemaking sources that obviously
have done no research and just parrot what others have said.
(snip)

There does seem a complete shortage of original information and original
research out there. Very frustrating.

I'm not at the stage yet where making two batches to compare them is a
possibility (still haven't found time yet to build my press), but it might
be worth considering.
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Dave

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Jack Schmidling
19 years ago
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Morton's pickling salt is available in most supermarkets and costs about
the same as regular salt and has nothing in it but salt.

js
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