Salt explained
Salt in a sausage comes from three places: your curing salt, salty seasonings like rubs, and plain salt. Linkulator adds them up so the finished sausage isn't too salty.
Curing salt is mostly salt
European curing salt is over 99% salt with a little nitrite, so it supplies most or all of your salt. Cure #1 is used in tiny amounts, so it adds very little. Linkulator always counts the curing salt's own salt and takes it off the plain salt.
Rubs are salty too
Most rubs are 30–50% salt. Using a rub means less plain salt, or none at all.
"Too much salt"
If your curing salt and rub already bring more salt than your Total salt target, Linkulator adds no plain salt and shows a red warning with the real total. To fix it:
- use less rub, or add non-salty spices instead (pepper, garlic, paprika)
- switch to Cure #1, which adds the nitrite with very little salt
- in Advanced, choose Salt % so the curing salt fills only what's left
- or raise the Total salt if you want it that salty
Choosing a curing salt raises your Total salt automatically if the curing salt alone needs more, and tells you so.