Need some quick help

[sedkjohnson]

Long story short, my 5 year old son has Duchenne and MUST stay on 1500mg sodium per day diet.  Cheese is out of the question unless I can make my own.  He/we LOVE cheese.  I have ZERO experience
making cheese but for my son I can and will do anything.  Most cheddar is around 160mg sodium per 1/4 cup.  Can I produce a good cheddar closer to 160mg per 1 cup?  Is it safe to lower the salt?
Is there a better style cheese for me to make at that sodium level?  Pizza and mac will be the primary uses (a good melting cheese).  Mozzarella doesn't work for mac so I will make that later. 

[Boofer]

I'd vote for a Swiss style (Emmental, Maasdam, Jarlsberg, etc.). I'm not certain of the sodium content but seems like it should be lower.

Check this.

-Boofer-

[sedkjohnson]

Thanks for the link.  Swish is what we currently use as it's the lowest in sodium I can find.
Works OK in some dishes.

[Sailor Con Queso]

Brined cheeses like Swiss, Gouda, Gruyere, etc are always lower in sodium than cheeses like cheddars that are direct salted before pressing.

[sedkjohnson]

Any experts out there that can help?

[linuxboy]

They already did. Do you want a chart of cheeses with common sodium content, or??

[sedkjohnson]

Well (linuxboy) I was hoping to just get answers to my questions.
"Can I produce a good cheddar closer to 160mg per 1 cup?  Is it safe to lower the salt?"
I understand if you don't know.  Food safety can be a tough subject.
I guess in my mind I thought this would be a simple question for experienced cheese makers.
Or at least "these are the problems you will encounter".
If this isn't the place to ask then maybe someone can direct me different.
This isn't a bucket list project, it's a real need.

[linuxboy]

Oh sorry, I read too fast. Didn't fully read all your questions.

Yes, possible to produce a good cheddar with low sodium. Trickier, but possible, you can also sub in potassium chloride instead of sodium chloride. The reason it is tricky is that the rate of maturation is affected by the sodium content. Simply put, the degradation of fat and protein is slowed down by salt. Without as much salt, you need to slow it down by other means, such as by aging at a cooler temp. So for cheddar, if you drop the temp to 38F, and keep it at 37% moisture (on the drier side for cheddar), it should work.

[iratherfly]

I think that unless you go for a Swiss style (which is lowest in salt of all cheese with the exception of simple farmer cheese), all other cheeses may taste somewhat lackluster.

HOWEVER, you can make some adjustments to a cheddar recipe to make it taste more "Swiss" and naturally never feel as if it needs more salt. Ripen it for shorter time and use a Swiss like starter cultures.  I have done a similar thing with Tomme and went from about 2% salt to 1.2%.

Most cheeses are 1.5%-2% salt. Swiss are lower. Blue are higher.