Weight Loss
The water a product loses as it dries, measured as a percentage of its starting weight. It is the visible sign of falling water activity, and the usual target for a finished dry cure is around a third or more.
Weight loss is the simplest measure of drying, and one of the most useful. As a salami or ham dries, the water it loses shows up directly as lost weight, so tracking weight is a practical proxy for how far the cure has progressed. A common target for a finished dry-cured product is a loss of around 38 per cent or more of its starting weight.
That number matters because weight loss and safety move together. Losing water is exactly what lowers the water activity into the range where pathogens cannot grow, so a product that has hit its weight-loss target has, in effect, dried enough to be shelf stable. It is the Water Activity corner made countable.
The loss must be even, though. If the surface dries far faster than the core, the product can reach a weight target while the centre is still dangerously moist, the fault of case hardening. Steady drying in a good microclimate is what keeps weight loss an honest measure.
Temple element. Roof, Water Activity