-1

I had my measuring spoon but lost it, now I am totally confused about what is 1/2, 1/4, 1/3, 2/3, etc. With normal tea or tablespoon, how can we measure the above-mentioned measurement? I am a visual person to it will help to have a chart that show it visually

DavidPostill
  • 722
  • 1
  • 7
  • 15
localhost
  • 173
  • 4
  • 3
    The way you do this is you go to the store and buy measuring spoons. – Rob Jan 16 '22 at 12:01
  • Why not use a scale? Much easier and much more accurate. As another option...It's fairly important to be accurate when baking, otherwise, a close estimate is generally good enough. – moscafj Jan 16 '22 at 12:28
  • 3
    @moscafj: Scales are useless if you’re following a recipe that’s in spoons unless you know the density of everything… and have a scale that is accurate to fractions of a gram – Joe Jan 16 '22 at 13:12
  • @Joe, actually not useless...It's a common practice in my kitchen...easy to find on Google...or "hey Alexa, how much does 1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt weigh in grams." For the vast majority of home cooking fractions of grams are unnecessary...just round off. – moscafj Jan 16 '22 at 13:27
  • 2
    If rounded off grams are precise enough, so will be the 'half a spoon' measurement I learned back at home before we had sets of measuring spoons and electronic scales. And ever tried to measure a half spoon worth of spices on scales which are up to 5 kilos (about 10 pound)? – Willeke Jan 16 '22 at 16:40
  • @Willeke this is not a problem with a scale that measures in grams. For example 1/2 tsp of cinnamon weighs a little over a gram. But, I will reiterate that level of precision is usually unnecessary anyway. I also know what about 1/2 teaspoon looks like in the palm of my hand (as you do with your 'half a spoon method'. Most of my kitchen work is done with a single scale and my hands. I rarely use measuring spoons. So, it is not as problematic as some would suggest...but to each his or her own. The only issue with your suggestion is spoons vary in size, you need some knowledge to use it – moscafj Jan 16 '22 at 17:07
  • 1
    Ever used 5 kilo scales for 1 gram? It will not measure it. And OP is clearly not familiar with spices measured in the hand (besides, a spoon is mostly much cleaner than a hand.) – Willeke Jan 16 '22 at 17:23
  • @Willeke...ummm, yes. My EatSmart Precision kitchen scale has a 7Kg capacity and measures in grams (and I wash my hands before cooking :-) ) – moscafj Jan 16 '22 at 17:37
  • 2
    When you say ‘normal tea or tablespoon’, are you talking about the sort that you’d use to set the table with? Because those aren’t really standardized the same way measuring spoons are – Joe Jan 17 '22 at 02:25
  • @Joe yes, the one you find in the kitchen for eating, basically the gist is to get hold of normal tools like tea/table to make use of it when you can't find on the go. – localhost Jan 18 '22 at 06:28
  • I have a cheap set of 5kg scales that measure in single grams. And they're pretty good in the single figures. But 1g on the display can be rounded from anything between 0.5g and 1.5g, and that's a factor of 3 difference, so significant for anything you're likely to use in those quantities and worse than you'll get with measuring spoons. (@moscafj). – Chris H Jan 18 '22 at 14:08
  • Another issue (and moscafj's scales are probably better than mine) is that for the first gram or two they can be a bit reluctant to change. Tapping lightly after putting the target container on and pressing "tare" can help. I keep meaning to get a cheap set of 0.01 or even milligram scales (not just for cooking) (also @Willeke). – Chris H Jan 18 '22 at 14:11
  • Also @moscafj a level of logic/experience needs to be applied to Google results (I assume Alexa/Amazon is no better but can't be sure as I have no use for it). Sometimes the excerpted answer is flat out wrong. A recent (non-cooking) example ["How many time zones are there"](https://www.google.com/search?q=how+many+time+zones+are+there) returns 24 when the real answer is 38 by the most common definition, or 25 US military timezones. Also note that especially for recipes that don't use US measurements, you need to be sure which tsp or pint Google answers with – Chris H Jan 18 '22 at 14:17
  • Yikes @ChrisH...getting in the weeds, no? How often (perhaps other than some baking ingredients) is the level of specificity you are getting at necessary? ;-) – moscafj Jan 18 '22 at 14:37
  • @moscafj I was thinking of fractional tsp of raising agents, where the difference is 40% (or 20%, not all sources agree!) and that would affect raising. But the pints are 25% different which would make quite a difference in the consistency of something like bechamel, and Jell-O made for a US pint (expressed as cups it seems) wouldn't set a UK pint. – Chris H Jan 21 '22 at 14:00

1 Answers1

3

In an emergency you can measure half a spoon relatively precise with just a normal spoon (either a table spoon or a teaspoon) quarters are less precise.

Take your spoon and fill it as normal for the spoon measurement. Now take a knife or an almost sharp plastic object and 'cut' the filling of the spoon in half, cutting from the handle to the tip. Next you put one half of the content of the spoon back in the container. (So doing all this over the container or a clean plate will work.)

For a quarter spoon you do the same but repeat with a second cut at a 90 degree angle, which is harder to guess.

I would likely use the plastic dough scraper which lives in my kitchen drawer but I remember my mother using a small and not too sharp knife, as you do not want to damage your spoon.

Willeke
  • 2,072
  • 1
  • 9
  • 27