diff --git a/software/cm/salt/src/main/java/org/apache/brooklyn/entity/cm/salt/impl/SaltHighstate.java b/software/cm/salt/src/main/java/org/apache/brooklyn/entity/cm/salt/impl/SaltHighstate.java
index e48c0b2..fdae93b 100644
--- a/software/cm/salt/src/main/java/org/apache/brooklyn/entity/cm/salt/impl/SaltHighstate.java
+++ b/software/cm/salt/src/main/java/org/apache/brooklyn/entity/cm/salt/impl/SaltHighstate.java
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@
 
 
     private static String adaptForSaltYamlTypes(String description) {
-        return description.replaceAll("!!python/unicode", "!!java.lang.String");
+        return description.replaceAll("!!python/unicode\\s+", "");
     }
 
     @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")