# Salt and Wax ??



## [email protected] (Sep 18, 2008)

The description of cheese salt said non-iodized flake salt, so can I use canning/kosher salt or do I need to order 'cheese salt'?

What kind of wax is used to coat cheese? Read that it's more pliable than paraffin. Trying to figure if it's cheaper to order 'cheese wax' or ? 

TIA


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## linuxboy (Oct 26, 2009)

> can I use canning/kosher salt or do I need to order 'cheese salt'


Which cheese? The rate of dissolution is important, and type of salt and size of salt granule affect that. But yes, no problem using normal salt. Might need to grind it up a little if it is too big.



> What kind of wax is used to coat cheese? Read that it's more pliable than paraffin. Trying to figure if it's cheaper to order 'cheese wax' or ?


Yes, it is more pliable. usually, cheaper to get real cheese wax, especially if your surface prep is questionable because some waxes contain natamycin for mold control.


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## [email protected] (Sep 18, 2008)

For the salt, I was thinking more for the brine as some call for 2#. I have a small bag of cheese salt that I got with a mozzarella kit that I'd ordered a while back that I used for that or would use in actually adding into cheese. I don't mind ordering some for that, but I wanna try doing some hard cheeses and for brining that's alot of salt. 

Will get my wax ordered and still gotta rig up some kind of press and get an aging 'fridge' and...and... :/ go from there. (Takes me muuuuuch longer to plan something out than getting it done. LOL)


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## linuxboy (Oct 26, 2009)

Oh for the brine, it's perfectly fine. Salt is salt. Will take a little longer to dissolve because kosher salt is bigger.


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## Cotton Eyed Does (Oct 26, 2007)

I read on one of these cheese recipes that iodized salt will tend to make your cheese have a greenish tint to it. I believe that is the reason for the non-iodized salt, whatever kind it is.

I'm very new to making cheese so please correct me if this is wrong.


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## linuxboy (Oct 26, 2009)

No, not really, not enough there. It does have some slight antibacterial properties, and it does influence the flavor. Honestly, it's not the end of the world if you use it. On some cheese, especially fresh chevre types, might make a difference.


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