What is the difference between Zero and Tare
You’ve probably noticed that your food scale has a tare feature and a zero option (In our kitchen scale, the “Power/TARE” Button is used to power on/off and also used to TARE/Zero the scale), but do you know the difference between these two functions? Knowing the zero and tare functions on your weighing scale makes it easier to understand how to accurately weigh the items you place onto it!
What Is Tare?
Tare means to weigh the contents of a container without weighing the container itself. Let’s say that you need to weigh a serving of cooked rice. You can’t place the cooked rice directly onto the weighing platform of the food scale because it would go everywhere and make your food scale dirty, so you need to put the rice into a bowl and then place it onto the food scale.
With the tare function, the food scale removes the weight of the container you’re using to hold the ingredients you’re measuring.
What happens if you want to add more ingredients? Do you need to do this every time? No! With tare, you can add additional ingredients directly into this bowl, and it will continue removing the weight of the original object to give you an accurate weight of the items you’re weighing.
You should use tare weight if you need to remove the weight of an item you’re placing onto a food scale when using it with another item. This will give you the true weight of the one item you’re trying to weigh.
What Is Zero?
Zero is simple. When you’re ready to weigh an item but the scale is giving a weight reading when there is nothing on the scale, then you need to use the zero function. The zero function will reset the weight of the scale back to zero so that you can get an accurate reading on the item you’re weighing.
The zero function should only be used if you’re weighing a single item and the scale isn’t showing zero. You shouldn’t use the tare function to reset the scale back to zero.
So, What’s the Difference Between Zero and Tare?
Both zero and tare help you weigh items accurately on a digital kitchen scale. You should use tare to remove the weight from an item you’re placing on a scale, such as a bowl or a container, to give you an accurate weight measurement of the item you’re weighing.
Zero will need to be used when placing an item onto the scale to weigh, and the scale hasn’t reset itself back to zero. You can choose the zero function to reset the scale to zero so that it registers the item being placed onto the scale to give an accurate weight reading.
Final Thoughts
Zero and tare are functions that you need to understand when using a food scale. Using them incorrectly or not understanding how to use them can cause you to measure food incorrectly, which can interfere with your nutritional or weight loss goals. That’s why it’s important to know the difference between zero and tare.
