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so thanks to the lunacy of american traditional i can provide this horrible data:

1/12 tsp ≈ 1 _pinch_ plus one _drop_

which is to say 1/16th + 1/64th teaspoons

which is to say can we please be metric now please i'm begging you save me from this bullshit xD

#baking #cooking

reshared this

in reply to anubis2814

it's an amount that will fall by itself from the spoon, makung a "dollop" sound, when it lands!
This entry was edited (2 months ago)
in reply to Solarbird :flag_cascadia:

i must stress these are AMERICAN teaspoons

NOT imperial

because imperial is NOT american just _mostly_ the same because AMERICAN TRADITIONAL is still on the fucking QUEEN ANNE BARREL and not the later larger barrel adapted by the British Empire after the American colonies won independence and from which all other volume units are derived

yes the base unit was the BARREL

why gods why

#baking #cooking #MetricNowPlease

This entry was edited (2 months ago)

Dr. jonny phd reshared this.

in reply to Solarbird :flag_cascadia:

I used to love reading all of the wacky conversion charts in the back of composition books. I mentioned it to my mom once when I was a kid and she went "that's not weird, we used to use some of those measurements at work".

She was a pharmacist!

in reply to Sam Levine

@SRLevine ounces are _the worst unit_

the _absolute_ worst unit

there are so many kinds of ounces

some of which are weight and some of which are volume and incidentally again why gods why

in reply to 🍋 Superball ☀️

@superball @SRLevine Avoirdupois ounces - US weight (and Imperial I _think_)
Troy ounces - fuck you ounces used by gold traders for fancy gold reasons
Metric ounce - STOP IT NO WHY (varied by country usually around 30g, see also the "metric inch")
Water ounces or Fluid ounces, US - measure of VOLUME, and smaller than:
Water ounces or Fluid ounces, UK - measure of VOLUME, also

and that list is NOT complete. those are just ones still in use in the last century.

in reply to Solarbird :flag_cascadia:

My kitchen scale has both as unit options and while I understand the need/use for a the mass option, the "fluid ounces" measured on a balance is just a head scratcher. Does it assume everything has the density of water? I'm so confused...
in reply to Dr. jonny phd

@jonny huh is my old old set of tablespoons somehow australian?

that'd be hilarious but I have no idea how

in reply to Dr. jonny phd

@jonny You will frequently find measuring cups in Canada that are 237 ml. Infuriating.
in reply to Dr. jonny phd

also how do you not have a defined "quart" unit, it's a parameterized unit that's a quarter of a gallon.
in reply to Dr. jonny phd

@jonny YEP

UK Imperial gallons are bigger than US gallons for the same reason, it's all the way down

basically the UK adopted a larger base unit (the barrel) so all the derived units also changed, and the US never adapted it.

in reply to Dr. jonny phd

@jonny The concept of precision appears to have been completely unknown.

Of course, it's entirely possible that wiki doesn't capture the full story and that some kind of standard inch had been created from which all other measures were derived. That would make sense to me but could just be wishful thinking.

I do recall reading that an acre was the amount of land that could be ploughed in a day but the specifics have long been lost to the mists of time.

in reply to Solarbird :flag_cascadia:

mind you ours aren't really the american traditional anymore either because that quietly got changed out TO METRIC BASIS I MIGHT ADD so we're already _kinda_ metric it's just REAL HIDDEN

1 US tablespoon = 15 ml
1 US teaspoon = 5ml

do division from there

in reply to Solarbird :flag_cascadia:

Um... those are the metric ones?
Spice measurement: 1 ml
Teaspoon: 5 ml
Table spoon: 15 ml
Half dl: 50 ml
dl: 100 ml
Be the ones in all the sets up over here. And we've got a small decorative poster in the kitchen that converts from US units. Comes in handy for using recepies found online sometimes.
in reply to Gurre Vildskägg

@Gurre I literally said - I mean, you replied to this:

"mind you ours aren't really the american traditional anymore either because that quietly got changed out TO METRIC BASIS I MIGHT ADD so we're already _kinda_ metric it's just REAL HIDDEN"

that means that they are now secretly metric (and therefore different to actual American Traditional which are close but not quite the same) BUT we're still pretending they're not and apparently using stupid names all the way down

in reply to Solarbird :flag_cascadia:

I thought uou ment the way all US/Imperial units are now defined using metric conversions. E.g. the definition of an inch is 25.4 mm. Not that the measurement itself is now the same as the non-US one (tablespoon being 15 ml in US and Sweden both).
My bad.

We don't actually call them tablespoons come to think of it. They're foodspoons here.

in reply to Gurre Vildskägg

@Gurre A modern US Tablespoon (this is what you get in a store now) vs. an old, actual US Traditional Tablespoon. The sugar in the spoon on the left filled the spoon on the right to level.
in reply to Solarbird :flag_cascadia:

AAAAAAAAAAAAAH! i have both and noticed the difference. the one with the sugar is the traditional, correct?
This entry was edited (2 months ago)
in reply to yes, it's me, liza 🇵🇷 🦛 🦦

@blogdiva @Gurre OKAY it's NOT just me. Yeah, the one on the left is I THINK traditional US Traditional.

(There is an extremely remote possibility that somehow it's Aussie but c'mon how would we've got that in Seattle?)

in reply to Solarbird :flag_cascadia:

it's US. my ex had those. his mom gave them to him like 30-40 years ago. i bought the "new" ones at the end of the 90s. the old ones are even made of a different material, like a tin?
This entry was edited (2 months ago)
in reply to Solarbird :flag_cascadia:

The tablespoon currently in my kitchen came from Australia, so it's 20ml. It's a good thing I don't cook much that requires precision measurements these days.
in reply to April Wick

@kg6gfq Exactly! Because the larger barrel!

I have a pre-secret-metric US traditional tablespoon. It's larger than the modern US tablespoon. All the modern "tablespoons" you buy are 15ml.

(edit: because I didn't completely level the US Traditional tablespoon the difference is visually a little exaggerated. I did however level it enough to be below the lip of the spoon, so it's still definitely bigger and faked by heaping. It's just not quite _this_ much bigger.)

ETA2: I was right the first time, other people with Old US Tablespoons showed up.

ETA: talking with others I am now wondering if somehow this oldest (bigger) tablespoon set is actually _Aussie_ and HOW? HOW DID WE HAVE THIS IN SEATTLE AT A STORE?! [See ETA2 above, it's US]

This entry was edited (2 months ago)
in reply to Solarbird :flag_cascadia:

@kg6gfq@octodon.social I’m puzzled. I’ve certainly seen those modern sets, but Wikipedia claims the US changed for nutritional labeling on boxes and such, but not in the kitchen. I wonder if it depends on where they are manufactured. Now I’m going to have to experiment in my kitchen.
This entry was edited (2 months ago)