Sweeping the back of a knife over the top is why you can’t use a liquid measuring cup for measuring solids, and why you must use the right size measuring cup. You then teach them to use the back of a knife to gently sweep across the top of the cup making the product level. The product should be bulging over the top of the cup. Your students need to be shown how to use a measuring cup designed for solids as a scoop, starting with scooping up the product without packing it down. If a recipe calls for one cup it means one level cup, one-half cup means one-half level cup, etc. In measuring solids, you need a measuring cup with a flat lip where you can move the back of a knife across the top of the measuring cup. In other words, you can’t measure a solid like flour in a measuring cup designed for measuring liquids. Cups for measuring solids are usually opaque plastic or metal and the handle is fastened to the top of the measuring cup and is perpendicular to the cup. Generally speaking, the cups for measuring liquids are clear and have a handle that begins near the top and travels down almost to the cup’s bottom. You need to make sure your students understand there are cups for measuring solids and cups for measuring liquids. If there is a similar empty container, let’s say a stainless half pan, they can put the empty pan on the scale, zero it out, and then put the pan they started loading back on the scale for measurement. If your students don’t zero out the scale but have already put the product into a container, they might not have to start over. If your students don’t zero it out, then they will not have an accurate measurement. This is done by turning a knob on a spring-loaded scale or pushing the zero button on a digital scale. Put a container on top of it and zero out the scale. The first, balance scale, is seldom used and the rest of this article will assume your students are using electronic or spring-loaded scales. There are three basic types of kitchen scales: a balance scale where counter weights are used to determine the weight, electronic scales, spring loaded scales. They should be uniform at four-and-a-quarter ounces. Then ask each group to share a scale and bring up four-and-a-quarter ounces of flour. Your students will be surprised at the wide discrepancy of weights. Ideally, each cup should weigh four-and-a-quarter ounces or 120 grams. Then, weigh the results and write the measurements on the board. The best way to demonstrate this is to give each group of students a standard measuring cup and ask them to bring you a cup of flour. One pound or one kilo is always one pound or one kilo. The main reasons for this are when you deal with large quantities it is difficult to measure cups (imagine measuring 75 cups of flour) and a given weight is always the same. Many commercial recipes, particularly for baking, give measurements by weight. The three most common methods for measuring solid ingredients are by cups, weight, and (for smaller amounts) teaspoons. This month’s 50 Minute Classroom column is about measuring both solids and liquids. Last month’s article was about using thermometers to measure temperature.
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