[Avodah] K'zayis as weight not volume?

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

R' Gil Student wrote:
> Experiments have shown that handmade shemurah matzah has
> approximately half the density of water so 14 grams of
> handmade shemurah matzah has about a mass of 28 ccs.

I can't speak about handmade matza, but regarding machine matza, here are some figures I copied from the "Nutrition Facts" on boxes of Streit's products a few years ago. Each is one serving size:

Farfel: 4 fl oz (120 cc) = 31 gr
Matza meal:  2 fl oz (60 cc) = 30 gr
Cake meal: 2 fl oz (60 cc) = 38 gr

I don't know if the figures for farfel are relevant to this discussion, but the difference between regular meal and cake meal is surely quite significant. It appears the RGS may be referring to someone who did these measurements using shmura matza meal, and not the more finely ground cake meal. The critical question is: How finely must the matza be ground for these calculations?

As I see it, cake meal has less air in it than regular meal, and that accounts for the extra eight grams. But even the cake meal still has plenty of air between the grains. Here is a simple experiment, and the only reason I'm not performing it myself is that I don't have sufficiently accurate equipment. But if someone else does, please try it, and tell us the results:

Take a container of water, and put a measured (i.e., weighed) quantity of matza into it. Use whichever kind of matza you want (cake meal, regular meal, or large pieces) but allow enough time for the water to be absorbed into the matza. Then put some more in. Keep adding matza until the post-absorption water level rises to 60 cc above the starting point. NOW you know how much matza is 60 cc!

Akiva Miller
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