With sticky ingredients, the amount measured is not the same as the amount that goes into the dish, because some stays on the spoon. The solution is to grease the spoon first: honey or grape molasses slides off in one piece from a spoon dipped in oil already used in the recipe. The loss may seem small, but these ingredients are dense, and honey or grape molasses measured by spoon weighs one and a half times as much as water.
A quiet loss occurs when measuring thick ingredients such as honey, grape molasses, tahini, and jam. When the amount scooped into a spoon is emptied into a bowl, it does not all come out; some sticks to the spoon’s surface. The spoon is washed at the end of the recipe, and the remainder is never seen. In other words, the amount measured and the amount added are not the same, and the difference occurs with every spoonful. If a recipe calls for 3 measures of 15 ml each of honey, the loss is multiplied by 3 and affects the dessert’s texture or sweetness. The same loss occurs at the bottom of a jar and along the sides of a container.
Do not underestimate the loss, because these ingredients are dense. Per 15 ml measure, honey weighs 22 grams; grape molasses, 22 grams; and tahini, 18 grams. Water weighs 15 grams for that same measure. These ingredients weigh noticeably more by the spoon than water, and the thin coating left on the spoon is correspondingly heavy. Over several spoonfuls, the amount lost can add up to a substantial part of the amount a spoon can hold. In dessert recipes, this difference affects both the syrup’s consistency and the balance of sweetness.
The solution is to make the spoon slippery. Before using it, dip it in liquid oil and shake off the excess; a thin film of oil keeps the honey from sticking to the spoon, so the ingredient slides off in one piece. Choose an oil that is already in the recipe, so nothing unfamiliar is added. If the recipe contains no oil, dip the spoon in hot water and dry it; the warm metal thins the honey on it and does the same job for a shorter time. If the recipe contains butter, the spoon can be dipped in that as well, with the same result.
The order is also part of the method and often solves the problem on its own. If a recipe contains both oil and honey, measure the oil first, then use the same spoon for the honey; the spoon is already greased, so no extra preparation is needed. The same idea is even easier when using a scale: tare the container, pour the honey directly into it, and skip the spoon entirely. If you have a scale, there is no reason to measure a sticky ingredient with a spoon. Weighing also eliminates the need to count spoonfuls.
The ingredient’s consistency also directly affects measurement. Cold honey thickens, sticks to the spoon more, and is harder to pour; crystallized honey may not fill the spoon completely. So before measuring, let the jar sit in warm water for a while until the contents become pourable. Do not put the jar directly over heat or in boiling water. Pourable honey both fills the spoon completely and leaves much less behind; warming it alone reduces some of the loss. Warm honey also blends into the mixture more quickly.
Comments (2)
Kaşığı yağlama numarası pekmezde çok işe yarıyor, kaşıkta neredeyse hiç kalmıyor.
Tarifte yağ yoksa ne yapılacak, su ile ıslatmak yeterli mi?
Su kısa süre iş görüyor ama yağ kadar iyi değil, çünkü su hızla emiliyor. Tarifte yağ yoksa kaşığı sıcak suya batırıp silkelemek ya da doğrudan tartıyla ölçmek daha temiz sonuç veriyor.