We study experimentally the macroscopic cohesion of wet granular materials during water evaporation and progressive crystallization of a solute between grains. The samples are wetted granular columns of cylindrical shape subjected to vertical compression tests. The compressive strength allows us to follow the evolution of the material from the capillary cohesion regime to the cemented cohesion regime. Surprisingly, we find that this transition is governed by a control parameter defined as the ratio of the crystallized solute mass to the total mass of the solute present in the sample rather than the absolute amount of the crystallized solute. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V All rights reserved.