Calculating salt content

[Swing Swang]

Is there an easy way to calculate the salt content of an unknown (salted) ingredient?

I buy a fermented/salted traditional sweet pepper paste (massa de pimento) each time I visit the folks in Portugal and fancy using this in a fermented linguiça/chouriço in a proportion approaching 10% - what I'll probably do is ask the octogenarian that makes the stuff how much salt she puts in it the next time I'm over - however it would be nice to do something before next summer.

It there an easy way/cheap bit of kit that will allow me to do the calculation?

Regards

Philip

[NCPaul]

The short answer is no. The easy way is titration for % chloride with silver nitrate; sodium can be analyzed for by atomic adsorption. I think you could make a fair guess that the salt is in the range of 1-3 %. Over 3 and most would find it extremely salty and under 1 it would be very bland. To be on the safe side with a dry cured sausage, I would use 2.3 % salt in the overall formulation.

[Swing Swang]

Thanks Paul - Just to clarify I am aiming for an overall salt content of just under 3%, it's the massa de pimentao that I want to be about 10%. I'm guessing that the massa, being a fermented product that I've brought over from Portugal, used in the quantities used locally will add an authentic flavour - Philip