---
title: "Krm: what it means in cooking — Tiny Plates"
description: "Krm, short for kryddmått, is the Swedish spice measure and holds exactly 1 ml. Here is how it compares to tsk, msk and US teaspoons."
url: "https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/krm"
---

# Krm

Krm, short for kryddmått, is the Swedish spice measure and holds exactly 1 ml. Here is how it compares to tsk, msk and US teaspoons.

Also called Kryddmått, Spice measure.

Krm is short for _kryddmått_, which means spice measure in Swedish. It is the smallest spoon in a Swedish measuring set and holds exactly 1 ml. Swedish recipes use it for salt, pepper, spices, saffron and baking soda, where a [teaspoon](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/teaspoon) would be too much. You will not find it outside Nordic recipes.

## How to do it

If you do not have a Swedish measuring set:

1. Use a ¼ teaspoon measure for 1 krm. It holds about 1.2 ml, close enough for spices.
2. For 2 krm, use a level ½ teaspoon minus a little, or two ¼ teaspoons that are not quite full.
3. For saffron, which is often sold in 0.5 g packets in Sweden, recipes may write "1 paket" or "½ g" instead of krm.

Always fill the measure and sweep it [level](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/level), unless the recipe says "rågad" (heaping). "Struken" means level.

## How to use it

The Swedish volume units are all exact metric amounts:

| Swedish unit                                                      | Exact value | In krm |
| ----------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------- | ------ |
| 1 krm (kryddmått)                                                 | 1 ml        | 1      |
| 1 [tsk](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/tsk) (tesked)         | 5 ml        | 5      |
| 1 [msk](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/msk) (matsked)        | 15 ml       | 15     |
| 1 [dl](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/deciliter) (deciliter) | 100 ml      | 100    |

Compared with American measures:

| Krm   | US measure                       |
| ----- | -------------------------------- |
| 1 krm | about ¼ teaspoon, a little under |
| 2 krm | a little under ½ teaspoon        |
| 3 krm | about ⅔ teaspoon                 |
| 5 krm | 1 teaspoon                       |

A US teaspoon is 4.93 ml, so 5 krm and 1 US teaspoon are the same for any cooking purpose.

## Common mistakes

* Reading krm as a teaspoon. That is five times too much, which is a big problem with salt, cayenne or ground cloves.
* Treating 1 krm as a [pinch](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/pinch). A pinch is much smaller, closer to ⅓ krm.
* Mixing up krm and kr, which is the Swedish currency.

## In recipes

You will see "1 krm salt", "2 krm svartpeppar" (black pepper), "½ krm cayennepeppar" and "1 krm bikarbonat" (baking soda). In Swedish recipes "nypa" means a pinch.

## Related terms

* [TskTsk, short for tesked, is the Swedish teaspoon and holds exactly 5 ml. It equals 5 krm or a third of a msk, and swaps one for one with a US teaspoon.](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/tsk)
* [MskMsk, short for matsked, is the Swedish tablespoon and holds exactly 15 ml. It equals 3 tsk and is close enough to a US tablespoon to swap directly.](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/msk)
* [DeciliterA deciliter (dl) is exactly 100 ml, the main volume unit in Swedish and Nordic recipes. See how it compares to cups and what 1 dl weighs.](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/deciliter)
* [MilliliterA milliliter (ml) is a thousandth of a liter, the metric unit for measuring liquids. See how ml converts to teaspoons, cups and fluid ounces.](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/milliliter)
* [PinchA pinch is the small amount you can hold between your thumb and one or two fingers, about 1/16 teaspoon. It is used for salt, spices and saffron.](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/pinch)
* [TeaspoonA teaspoon holds 5 ml, and 3 teaspoons make a tablespoon. Here is how to measure one level, and how it compares to tsk and krm in Swedish recipes.](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/teaspoon)

[More in measurements](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/category/measurements)[Every term from A to Z](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary)