Sea salt, fine
Salt bars: very hard, dense bars. A harder bar that unmoulds sooner.
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 sea salt is sea salt ground to a small grain, like table salt. It packs a little looser: a level tablespoon of one brand weighed 15.8 g, against 18.9 g for a canning salt.
How much
- 50–100 % of the oils for salt bars filled in Lovin Soap supplier or guide
- 0.5 tsp per pound of oils (measured as Salt, fine (table or canning)) Faiola, Pure Soapmaking primary source
- 0.48 tbsp per pound of oils (from a published recipe) Faiola, Pure Soapmaking primary source
The calculator fills in 50 % of the oils: 500 g for the 1000 g of oils in its starter recipe.
When and how
- Usually: at light trace.
- Also used: in the water, before the lye.
- Stir it in as it is.
Grosso, DIY Artisanal Soaps primary source, Faiola, Pure Soapmaking primary source
What it does to the recipe
- It changes neither the lye nor the water: it is only weight in the bar.
UC ANR primary source
Worth knowing
- 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
- Caution: Salt cuts lather markedly. Faiola, Pure Soapmaking primary source
Spoons and drops
- 1 tsp ≈ 5.27 g (5.27–6.31 g)
- 1 tbsp ≈ 15.8 g (15.8–18.9 g)
- 1 cup ≈ 253 g (253–303 g)
INCI name
Maris Sal
Recipes that use it
Guides that discuss it
Sources
University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources, Master Food Preserver program, "Salt: the only rock we eat" (May 2025): a level tablespoon weighed 18.9 g (Morton Canning & Pickling), 16.9 g (Diamond Crystal granulated), 15.8 g (La Baleine fine sea salt), 9.8 g (Maldon flakes) and 8.2 g (Diamond Crystal kosher flakes).
Alicia Grosso, DIY Artisanal Soaps (2016), p. 57: salt for a salt bar is stirred "into the lightly traced soap batter".
Anne-Marie Faiola, Pure Soapmaking (Storey Publishing, 2016), recipes in chapters 8–10. 100% Castile-Brine Stamped Cube: "1 tablespoon sea salt" dissolved in the water before the lye, for 33 oz of olive oil. Oatmeal Soap for Babies: "2 teaspoons bentonite clay dispersed into 4 tablespoons distilled water" and "2 tablespoons colloidal oatmeal" at thin trace, for 15.1 oz of oils whose olive oil is infused with "2 tablespoons Egyptian chamomile" in a teabag in 14.5 oz of oil, 2 hours in a double boiler. Nettle & Yarrow Upcycle: "2 teaspoons dried yarrow powder dispersed into 1 tablespoon apricot kernel oil" in one of two halves of 24.1 oz of oils. Buttermilk Honeycombs: "3 tablespoons honey" at thin trace for 25.1 oz of oils. Banana Cream Pie Layered Bars: "1.2 ounces banana, 1.5 ounces whipping cream, and 1.5 ounces water, pureed" at thin trace for 35.2 oz of oils, then the freezer "for 24 hours to avoid overheating from the sugars in the banana". Annatto-Yarrow with Embeds: "1 tablespoon spirulina powder" and "1 teaspoon yarrow powder", added "directly to the hot lye-water", for 7.1 oz of oils; "2 tablespoons poppy seeds" in one of two halves of 34 oz of oils. Cucumber Layers: "1 ounce cucumber puree" into the whole batch at thin trace, 22 oz of oils. Gardener Scrub with Coffee Grounds: 50 oz of oils, the batter divided "into four exactly equal sections", one each for "5 teaspoons paprika", "5 teaspoons ground orange peel dispersed into 1 tablespoon of canola oil", "5 teaspoons brewed coffee grounds" and "10 teaspoons green zeolite clay". Indigo-Annatto Negative-Space Funnel Pour: "1.5 tablespoons indigo powder" whisked into the lye-water and "1 tablespoon alkanet root powder dispersed into 1 ounce sunflower oil" at very thin trace, 35.2 oz of oils; "In order to bring out the best color for the indigo powder, the soap must go through a hot gel phase". Black Tea Funnel Pour: 5.5 oz of brewed black tea added at thin trace, 5.5 oz of water for the lye, 33.1 oz of oils. Goat Milk Sunset Burst: "0.7 ounce goat milk powder dissolved in 1 ounce distilled water" for 17.1 oz of oils and "1 ounce goat milk powder" for 25.2 oz, added at trace: "To help avoid scorching, this recipe incorporates the goat milk by using a concentrated solution of powdered goat milk."
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."
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."
Cargill, sea salt product sheets: extra coarse sea salt, bulk density 1060–1185 g/L; fine sea salt 1073–1281 g/L.