Salt, fine (table or canning)
A harder bar that unmoulds sooner. Salt bars: very hard, dense bars.
Opens the calculator’s starter recipe, 1000 g of oils, with this additive at the dose it fills in, ready to change.
What it is
Fine salt is sodium chloride with small grains, the salt sold for the table or for canning. It packs densely for a powder, 1.14–1.30 g per mL for Morton’s fine all-purpose salt.
USDA FoodData Central primary source, Morton Salt primary source
How much
- 0.5 tsp per pound of oils filled in Faiola, Pure Soapmaking primary source
- 1 tsp per pound of oils Soap Queen supplier or guide
- 50–100 % of the oils for salt bars Lovin Soap supplier or guide
The calculator fills in 0.5 tsp per pound of oils: 6.6 g for the 1000 g of oils in its starter recipe.
When and how
- Usually: in the water, before the lye.
- Also used: at light trace.
- Weigh it dry and dissolve it in the recipe’s own water: no extra water.
- Not into the finished lye solution: it may not all dissolve.
Faiola, Pure Soapmaking primary source, Grosso, DIY Artisanal Soaps primary source
What it does to the recipe
- It changes neither the lye nor the water: it is only weight in the bar.
USDA FoodData Central primary source
Worth knowing
- Caution: Salt cuts lather markedly. Faiola, Pure Soapmaking primary source
- Salt bars are usually 80–100 % coconut oil with a 15–20 % superfat. Faiola, Pure Soapmaking primary source, Lovin Soap supplier or guide
- Salt bars set fast: cut them as soon as they are firm, 4 to 8 hours after pouring. Lovin Soap supplier or guide
Spoons and drops
- 1 tsp ≈ 6 g (5.62–6.41 g)
- 1 tbsp ≈ 18 g (16.9–19.2 g)
- 1 cup ≈ 292 g (270–308 g)
USDA FoodData Central primary source, Morton Salt primary source
INCI name
Sodium Chloride
- CAS number
- 7647-14-5
- EC number
- 231-598-3
Recipes that use it
Guides that discuss it
Sources
Anne-Marie Faiola, Pure Soapmaking (Storey Publishing, 2016): "1 teaspoon of sodium lactate for every 16 ounces (1 pound) of oils or 0.5 percent" (the two disagree: a teaspoon of the 60 % solution a pound is about 1.45 % of the oils, so neither is taken from this book); salt at "½ teaspoon per pound of oil", added to the water before the lye; "Salt decreases lather significantly"; salt bars are 80–100 % coconut oil at a high superfat. Chapter 5: coffee grounds, "For extra scrubbing power, use a coarse grind, while for gentle exfoliation, a super-fine espresso grind is best. Use the grounds to make coffee before adding them, or they might bleed brown halos into the final soap"; "Adding colloidal oatmeal can accelerate trace in your soap recipe; premixing with water can help avoid this"; honey, "start soaping with lye-water and oils both under 100°F (38°C). Add the honey at trace ... Once the soap is finished, place it in the refrigerator or freezer immediately to prevent overheating". Chapter 7: "A half teaspoon of sugar per pound of soap added to your lye-water can help your bar lather up."
Alicia Grosso, DIY Artisanal Soaps (2016), p. 57: salt for a salt bar is stirred "into the lightly traced soap batter".
Soap Queen, making soap last longer: "about 1 tsp. of table salt per pound of oils".
Lovin Soap, formulating salt bars: "50-100% of oil weight in salt"; mostly coconut oil at a 15–20 % superfat; cut when set, "This can be 4 hours after you pour or 8."
Morton Salt, product data sheet 2039 (fine all-purpose salt): bulk density 1.14–1.30 g/mL.