Pinch (unit of measure)

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The pinch (of French. Prize : "the company") is an approximate unit for granular material , such as salt , sugar, pepper, but also herbs or snuff .

The most common definition is “an amount that can be grasped between two fingers”, that is, between the thumb and forefinger. The Duden takes the definition a little wider as "a small amount [...] that someone can grasp between two or three fingers". - The dictionary by Johann Christoph Adelung from 1811 takes the meaning even further: A pinch is "as much as one takes in one meal for a certain use of a thing", ie the amount of an ingredient in a dish.

In the kitchen language (earlier also in pharmacology ) the pinch is treated as a smaller unit compared to the knife tip , with salt the pinch would then be less than 100 mg, the knife tip more than that. Sometimes there is the distinction that a knife point consists of roughly two prizes. Often, however, the unit of measure `` pinch '' is only chosen for the coarser-grained material, with no clear difference to the knife tip.

In the British and American usage, the pinch (will pinch ) sometimes referred to as 1/16 Teaspoon ( tsp ) or (historically) as ⅛ Teaspoon defined, sometimes referred to as 1/48 ounce fluid .

1/16 imperial teaspoon corresponds to 0.37 cm³, and is therefore a measure of volume. Since table salt has a density of 2.16 g / cm³, a pinch salt corresponds to a weight of 0.8 g or 800 mg.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gunter Scholz, Klaus Vogelsang: Units, symbols, sizes. Fachbuchverlag, Leipzig 1991, p. 222, ISBN 9783343005000
  2. ↑ http://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/Prise
  3. ↑ Johann Christoph Adelung: Grammatical-critical dictionary of the high German dialect. Vol. 3, Bauer, Vienna 1811, Col. 839.
  4. ↑ "A knife point should be about half a teaspoon (2.5 cm³) and a pinch about half a knife point (1.25 cm³)." Rudolf Kobert : Compendium of the drug prescription theory for students and doctors. Enke, Erlangen 1893, p. 86.
  5. ^ EF Kießling & Son: Cupid's Book of Good Counsel. Bedford (MA): Applewood 1918, p. 103.
  6. ^ François Cardarelli: Encyclopedia of Scientific Units, Weights, and Measures. Springer, London 2004, p. 55. ISBN 1-85233-682-X