Digital Kitchen Scale – If you’re planning to buy a digital kitchen scale for your cooking activities, there are certain features of the scale that you have to look for. Having a digital kitchen scale is suppose to make your life easier not harder. Therefore, finding a digital kitchen scale that best serves your needs is crucial. A particular feature might be essential to a person but not to another. So you have to know what you need from a digital kitchen scale that suits your style of cooking.
The first feature that you might need to consider is the maximum weight that the scale is able to hold. This is normally displayed on the box or if you happen to see the scale listed online, you can read its specifications. Usually this is listed by the retailer. By knowing this number, you can easily know whether the scale is suitable for you or not. The thing about this maximum weight is the price; the more weight it can hold, the price will also be higher. So if you’re weighing small and light items most of the time, you might want to buy a small kitchen scale instead of a large one. This can save you some money for other things.
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Kitchen scale – info
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Next, see whether the kitchen scale comes with a removable bowl or not. A digital kitchen scale can sometimes come with a fixed bowl attached to it. You might like it or you might not. It depends on your style. Some people prefer a removable bowl so that they are free to use any container depending on their ingredients to be measured. A removable bowl is also easier to clean compared to the fixed one.
Have you heard of what they called aquatronic digital kitchen scale? It’s a type of digital scale that can be used to measure both liquid and dry items. Normally it comes with a flat surface (usually glass) on top of your scale, so you can directly put dry item without the need of any container or bowl. For liquid items, you can use any container of your liking and put on top of the scale as well. So it’s kinda handy feature in my opinion as it gives you the flexibility you need for your cooking activities.
Types of Digital Kitchen Scale
Finding a good quality digital kitchen scale is not an easy job as there are a lot of choices for you to pick one and bring it home. If you are not sure about your requirements and what you want to do with the scale, you can end up spending the whole day looking at different models without buying anything. One of the first things that you must possess is the knowledge of different types of digital kitchen scale available in the market. You must also know what are you going to do with the scale itself specifically. Different types of scale serve different functions. Some types of kitchen scale is good at measuring certain items but some can be quite universal and multi purpose. So keep those in mind before going out to your local stores.
Kitchen scales – types
There are several types to choose from. First is whether the digital kitchen scale comes with a bowl or just a flat surface to put on your ingredients. Sometimes they come with a detachable bowl but sometimes the bowl is permanently attached to the scale which makes it harder to clean. If the bowl is permanently attached, the capacity of the scale is also limited to the size of the bowl itself. So if you want to measure some ingredients that require a larger bowl, either use another scale or you have to split them into smaller portions so that the ingredients can fit into the bowl. Having a digital scale with just a flat surface gives much flexibility as well, as it allows you to use your own container or bowl that fits your needs. And if you feel like a bowl is a bit too much, you can just place the ingredients directly on top of that flat panel. This kitchen scale that uses no bowl at all also known as aquatronic scale. It uses a flat glass panel to measure directly any ingredients that you put on top of it. Cleaning requires only a simple wipe with a damp cloth. So if you hate the idea of having to use bowl all the time, do try and check out this aquatronic scale.
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Another type of digital kitchen scale that you might want to consider is called the nutritional scale. It cleverly analyses the nutritional content of your food by portion size, calculates calories, net carbohydrates and so on then displays them on its large LCD panel. This is absolutely a must for those who are so cautious about their food nutritions and those who are on diet programs. You can also record your daily food intake as well as review your progress from time to time. All in all, a great product for nutrition lovers.
With plenty of digital kitchen scale to choose from, make sure you know what you’re after so you’ll get the best bang for the buck. If you know your needs, then shopping for a kitchen scale will become a lot easier and you’ll end up with just the perfect item for your kitchen.
Digital Kitchen Scale or Mechanical?
So now you’ve decided that having a kitchen scale in your kitchen is a big plus to your cooking style and probably a good addition that can improve your meals as well. The question is, would you buy a digital kitchen scale or a mechanical one? As many other options you faced in life, there are pros and cons in buying any of the scale.
The first is accuracy and precision. You have to ask yourself, how precise do you want the kitchen scale to be, or how accurate do your measurements needed to be? If you’re looking at measuring something that can compromise a gram or two, than probably mechanical kitchen scale will do just fine. Otherwise, if every single drop of your ingredients counts, you’d better opt for a digital kitchen scale as it provides you with high precision and accuracy that you’ve been looking for. Using a mechanical one can be difficult at times depending on the maximum weight it can afford. Sometimes a small quantity change is hardly detected by the mechanical scale and this leads to error in your measurement. Using a digital scale however, can mostly eliminate this problem.
Kitchen scales – Design
Next is probably how you would read the measurement from the scale. Digital kitchen scale normally uses LED display which shows the measurement in numbers up to the maximum number of decimal place it allows. This can give you a definite answer out of the box. So a big advantage here is speed. For mechanical scale, you have to read the scale yourself, bearing in mind all the meniscus errors and scaling error. Sometimes if you are not familiar with the scale itself, this can lead to error in reading the correct measurement value. So other than it consumes more time, it can probably give you a totally different result then intended. Be aware of that. That’s why many grocery stores use digital kitchen scales nowadays since the scale can give accurate and fast result, suitable for the nature of the business.
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Last but not least, you would want to look at the durability of both systems. A digital one tends to be less durable than the mechanical one, as you would probably expect. The electronics in the digital kitchen scale and its build makes it more sensitive. As most other electronics devices, rigorous usage would in turn make the digital scale less effective and probably break down faster than a traditional mechanical one. Having said that, if you’re using the scale in a correct manner and follow every precaution steps, a digital scale has more plus points than a mechanical scale, enough to make any householders yearning to have one in their kitchens.
Why Digital Kitchen Scale?
Who needs a digital kitchen scale? Why do you actually need it? For those who haven’t done serious cooking might think that having a kitchen scale is just a waste of money. And for most part of the cooking time itself, not needed at all. Picture this, if I’m a college student having to go through my whole day attending lectures, and then not having enough time to do other things accept study and finishing up courseworks, do I really care about how many ounce of sugar do I put in my food? The answer is an absolute no. The same goes for those who are too busy to cook, normally they opt for instant food instead of cooking their own meal. You wouldn’t expect they would have a kitchen scale inside their kitchen cabinets, would you?
A digital kitchen scale is an essential tool for those people that require precision in their cooking. For a baker, this is a must. I love baking cakes, and for me, a kitchen scale is a must for every ounce of flour or sugar counts. A little less or a little too much can give a totally different result. Traditionally, people measure the ingredients using measuring cups and this can sometimes lead to imperfections. Other just use any cups that they can find in their kitchens. This is another major bummer as cups come in different size so two cups of flour that I measure might not be the same quantity as yours. You might argue that once you’re familiar enough with all the measurements, a scale is not needed at all. Well to me, repeatability and consistency is another reason why we need a scale for our cooking preparations. We can be sure that by using a scale, the measurements are consistent everytime we want to cook the same meal over and over again. A digital scale is a bonus as you can measure to the nearest decimal place (depending on the model) and give you the precision that you desire.
So to me, having a digital kitchen scale is a must for serious cooks, and for those who are passionate about cooking. If you have ample time to be in the kitchen, and you see cooking as an art, you wouldn’t want to miss measuring the ingredients of your meal with a good quality kitchen scale for your cooking satisfaction.
Kitchen scales – FAQ
How do I know if my kitchen scale is accurate?
A good way to check the accuracy of your kitchen scale is to weigh a known object, like a kettle. Weigh the kettle on your kitchen scale and then weigh it again on a different, more accurate scale. If the two readings are close to each other, then your kitchen scale is likely accurate. If the two readings are not close to each other, then you may need to calibrate your kitchen scale. To calibrate your kitchen scale, follow the manufacturer’s instructions.
How do I clean my kitchen scale?
Pour some vinegar into a kettle and heat it until it boils. Turn off the heat and let the vinegar sit in the kettle for 10 minutes. Use a cloth to wipe down the scale. If there is any stubborn dirt or food residue, use a toothbrush to scrub it off. Pour hot water over the scale and wipe it down with a cloth.
How do I store my kitchen scale?
It’s best to store your kitchen scale in a dry place where it won’t get wet. You can also store your scale in a kitchen drawer with your other utensils, or you can keep it on top of your refrigerator.
If you have a kettle, you can also store your scale inside the kettle. This will help to protect the scale from getting wet and it will also keep the scale warm, which is ideal for weighing food that needs to be cooked immediately after being weighed.
