on a second thought, I think that cup and (its portions) are very useful in measuring dry ingredients(flour, sugar, yeast, etc), or pet food, without using kitchen scales, which most people don't have at home. In Russia, since the recipes used grams, I used some conversion table (how many grams of various products in a tea spoon, table spoon, glass), which was quite a pain too.
________________________________ From: Natalia Permiakova <np...@yahoo.com> To: "cont...@metricpioneer.com" <cont...@metricpioneer.com>; U.S. Metric Association <usma@colostate.edu> Sent: Monday, August 5, 2013 3:02 PM Subject: Re: [USMA:53137] Re: Measuring Cup in Russia, "cup" was used mostly for home culinary recipes. when I started to explore culinary arts back when I was a teenager in Russia, it was very confusing too, because there were two sizes of cups (called not cup, but glass (and the expression there is "to drink vodka by glasses" ;-) )) - 200 mL and 250 mL. so, a liter would have either 4 or 5 glasses. I think nowadays, mL are used for recipes, and it is up to the cook how to measure them, using glass or measuring cup or anything else. since Russia followed France a lot in many things, i wanted to check what is the cup in France. but found only short article, http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tasse_(unit%C3%A9) , translated: Cup (unit) For other uses, see Coffee (disambiguation) . The cup is a measure of volume sometimes used in cooking , especially in English-language publications. Its symbol is the c (English "cup") in English (in Canadian books in French, c is reserved for the spoons). The cup can take four values: * In the imperial system of measurement , the cup (which is usitée than Canada ) is defined as 1/5 quart imperial, or 8 fluid ounces Imperial, which is exactly 227.3045 ml , but is often rounded to 225 ml (0.9 metric cup); * In the American system of measurement , the cup is defined as 1/2 pint U.S., or 8 fluid ounces U.S., which is exactly 236.5882365 ml ; * The metric cup, finally, is exactly 250 ml (4 metric cups per liter). It is used in Australia , in Canada , and New Zealand ; * Japanese cup is metric origin but is exactly 200 ml (0.8 metric cup, 5 Japanese cups per liter). this article aslo mentions Japanese cup of 180 mL, which is used in all the Japanese rise maker machines. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cup_(unit) so, i think that "cup" is very confusing and should only be used for very non-formal (oral) recipes. for anything written, mL should be used. (the same for spoons, table and tea). thanks, Natalie ________________________________ From: "cont...@metricpioneer.com" <cont...@metricpioneer.com> To: U.S. Metric Association <usma@colostate.edu> Sent: Monday, August 5, 2013 2:20 PM Subject: [USMA:53137] Re: Measuring Cup Jim makes a good point. I think Mark was probably thinking that NIST should redefine a cup as an eighth of a liter. David Pearl MetricPioneer.com 503-428-4917 ----- Message from j...@metricmethods.com --------- Date: Mon, 05 Aug 2013 13:01:18 -0500 From: James Frysinger <j...@metricmethods.com> Reply-To: j...@metricmethods.com Subject: [USMA:53135] Re: Measuring Cup To: "U.S. Metric Association" <usma@colostate.edu> > The liter is defined by the CGPM, not by NIST. > > Jim > > On 2013-08-05 12:34, Henschel Mark wrote: >> I think we should ask NIST to redefine a litre as eight cups. Each one >> would be slightly bigger than 30 mL, but the math to increase recipe >> sizes would be a lot easier. >> >> Mark >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: Natalia Permiakova <np...@yahoo.com> >> Date: Sunday, August 4, 2013 12:01 am >> Subject: [USMA:53131] Re: Measuring Cup >> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <usma@colostate.edu> >> >> >> Eight 240 mL cups should not be equal to two liters. >> >> >> Sent from Yahoo! Mail on Android >> >> > >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> >> > * >> > From: >> > * >> > Kilopascal <kilopas...@cox.net>; >> > >> > * >> > To: >> > * >> > U.S. Metric Association <usma@colostate.edu>; >> > >> > * >> > Subject: >> > * >> > Measuring Cup >> > >> > * >> > Sent: >> > * >> > Sun, Aug 4, 2013 4:36:16 AM >> > >> >> > Everyone needs to know, especially if you prepare >> > food with measuring cups, that if you use the USC side, that each USC >> ounce is >> > precisely 30 mL and the 8 ounce marking on the cup means 240 mL and >> not 236 and >> > some decimal dust millilitres. >> >> >> > If you do conversions from ounces to millilitres >> > in recipes, do not use 28 g or 29.5 mL. Use both 30 g and 30 mL as >> the cup >> > manufacturers are using the FDA and not the NIST definitions for cup >> > dimensions. >> >> > http://lynnescountrykitchen.net/glossary/utensils/measurecup.html >> >> >> > A cup-shaped kitchen utensil, >> > varying in size from 1/4 to 5 cup measures that are used to hold >> specific >> > amounts of both dry and liquid ingredients. Traditional small dry >> measuring cup >> > sizes are used for dry measures of 1/8, 1/4, 1/3, 1/2, 1, and 2-cup >> sizes in >> > U.S. measures or 30 ml, 60 ml, 80 ml, 120 ml, and 240 ml in metric. >> The liquid >> > measuring cups can range in sizes that measure from 1 teaspoon or 5 >> milliliters >> > to 8 cups or 2 liters. The smallest cup measures 1 to 6 teaspoons in >> U.S. >> > measures or 5 to 30 milliliters (ml) in metric. >> >> >> > Other links with the same 240 mL = 8 ounce >> > relationship: >> >> http://www.etsy.com/listing/57178175/25-mixing-measuring-cups-for-epoxy-resin >> >> >> http://www.lighthouseproductionsinc.com/disposable-measuring-cup-graduated-8-ounce-240-cc/ >> ----- End message from j...@metricmethods.com -----
