Grams vs. Teaspoons
You may come across different cooking instructions when it comes to the recipe you want. In these instructions, the ingredients for preparing the meal are listed, each of which has a certain volume or size to achieve the right result. Volume refers to the amount of space that a substance occupies.
Every writer of the recipe can express the volume or the size of the ingredients in terms of different units. There is not a unique definition. Some writers express the amount of these materials in grams or kilograms – both of which represent mass, and others use common tools such as cups, tablespoons, teaspoons, and so on.
What would happen if the recipe is in terms of grams or kilograms but you do not have a kitchen scale? There is a way to convert a gram to a teaspoon, but before that, let us review different kinds of spoons.
Different types of spoons
Spoons are available in many different types that every of which has its own usage. It is interesting to know there are more than 45 kinds of spoons in the world. But these too many types can be divided into three main types. These three main types of spoons are named: 1) Tablespoon. 2) Soupspoon and 3) Teaspoon.
Tablespoon
A tablespoon is the largest kind of spoon. Most countries in the world use tablespoon to serve food and this is why we call it a tablespoon. A teaspoon officially must contain 14.78 milliliters of a liquid.
Read More: How to measure 9 grams of powder?
Soupspoon
Another usual type of spoon is soupspoons. As you can guess from its name, soupspoons are used to serve soups and fluid potables. Soupspoons are deeper in comparison with other types of spoons and they also have a longer handle that allows us to use them in deep bowls.
Teaspoon
Teaspoons are the most useful kind of spoon in recipes. You could see most recipes use teaspoons to express the volume of ingredients needed in cooking.
Teaspoons are actually used to stir coffee, tea, and other drinks. These spoons have a wider bowl than other models. A teaspoon is less hollow than a tablespoon. This makes it more widely used in recipes. In each recipe, you have ingredients that you have to add a very small amount to other ingredients. Less depth of the teaspoon allows this and makes it a good option Now that we are familiar with the types of spoons, let’s get back to the main question of the article. If in one recipe the volume of ingredients was in terms of grams and we only had a few spoons, how do we convert these two together? Keep in mind there is also a converse situation. That is, the recipe is in terms of a tablespoon or a teaspoon, and we only know the weight of ingredients in terms of a gram or sometimes kilogram!
How do I measure 1 gram with a teaspoon?
In the first step, you must know every teaspoon is equal to 5 millimeters. In another word, 1tsp = 5 mL while tsp is the abbreviation of a teaspoon. In addition, you need to be familiar with its density. In science, density is defined as the ratio of mass to the volume of a substance. In the density formula, mass and volume are expressed in terms of gram or kilogram and milliliter or liter respectively. To convert teaspoon to milliliter or vice versa, you must know the density of your substance.
We first consider water as an available liquid that could be the reference material. The density of water is 1 gram per millimeter. 1 gram is equal to 0.2 tsp. So if you want to convert a gram of water to a teaspoon, you just need to divide it into five. In terms of mathematics, for water we have the list below:
1 g = 0.2 tsp
2 g = 0.4 tsp
3 g = 0.6 tsp
4 g = 0.8 tsp
5 g = 1 tsp
10 g = 2 tsp
1000 g = 200 tsp
It is obvious that there are some kinds of substances you must use in cooking or baking. Some of the most useful ones are sugar – milk – flour – honey – butter – baking powder and so on.
Each of which has its own density and the way they convert is not as easy as water. We list the conversion of these materials below and you could refer to them as you need:
1 tsp of sugar is equal to 4.2 g.
1 tsp of honey is equal to 7 g.
1 tsp of baking powder is equal to 4.4 g.
1 tsp of milk is equal to 5.1 g.
1 tsp of flour is equal to 2.6 g.
1 tsp of butter is equal to 4.73 g.
In these conversions, we used the relation of density with mass and volume. By knowing the density of these substances you could calculate these values by yourself. In the list below, we mentioned the density of them:
Density of sugar = 1.59 g/cm^3
Density of honey = 1.43 g/cm^3
Density of baking powder = 0.001 g/cm^3
Density of milk = 1.02 g/cm^3
Density of flour = 0.59 g/cm^3
Density of butter = 0.96 g/cm^3
By using these values and the formula of density we mentioned above, you can obtain the relation between the gram and teaspoon of every material. To measure a gram with a teaspoon, multiply the value of the density of the substance by its volume. Remember, the volume must be in terms of a milliliter. By knowing that every 1tsp = 5 mL, the number you gain is in terms of a gram and actually the result you want.
Read More: How to Measure 7/8 Cup of Water?
In addition to the method we explored above, there are some online converters that can convert a gram to a teaspoon or vice versa. But knowing the way they work is obviously an advantage. Sometimes there is no internet in access or your hands are dirty to use a phone or laptop or maybe you are not interested in using your computer for such a simple calculation, then you can do it by yourself. Remember it, it may sound a bit confusing on the very first try but it would be really easy for you if you try it twice or so. The positive point is that the number of substances that are mentioned in the recipe is not really vast. You only need to know just a few substances that are more common, then you can use the abovementioned formula easily.
In this article, you read about how to measure 1 gram with a teaspoon.
