How many grams is one serving of great northern beans for an average adult?

Question

I was told for my diet one serving of great northern beans, But I do not know how much that is so I bought a gram scale thinking I could measure it but I don't know how much to measure. I don't mean to be pedantic or nitpicky here.

The great northern beans package says one serving is 1/4 cup dry = 35 grams. The internet usdrybeans.com says 1/4 cup dry of great northern beans is 56.70 grams.

The Kroger Simple Truth cooked dry cans says 1/2 cup which is 1/4 dry is 130 grams. The internet usdrybeans says 1/2 cup cooked which is 1/4 dry is 113.40.

Just wondered if there are any food measuement gurus out there. I'm probably chasing a red herring and there is variation.

Answer 1

There's no consistent, coherent definition of "a serving" of an ingredient. How much is a serving of flour? Is that enough to make one serving of donuts? Is it too much to thicken one serving of chowder? Some countries' standards organizations have attempted to standardize the 'serving size' of various ingredients, but these are estimates at best and make assumptions which probably aren't valid for your circumstances or your recipe.

FWIW, though, such serving size references are always measured by weight; if you see standard serving sizes quoted in volume, those are estimates based on the weight.

If someone told you to eat exactly "one serving of dried beans", and it seemed like they really meant "exactly", you'd better ask them what they meant by "one serving".