Phuntis

could it be that it’s a british tabloid just a thought

I hate punctuation and I’d guess the thinking is the recipe author doesn’t even know them self what they used and also it’s like a permission thing again could be clearer by saying to taste but maybe the thinking is if they say a ¼ tsp people will add exactly that and be rigid where as you say a shake of it and they’ll decide for themselves how much they want

I know it’s not the answer you want but really that’d mean whatever you feel is right like a pinch of salt just means add the amount of salt that makes it taste good to you which would be much better written as salt to taste but that’s what they mean generally same applies with anything that’s a small undefined vague amount of an item that’s just there for flavour really I know that’s not super helpful if you’re not good at cooking and don’t know what is the right amount for you though it’s sort of just something you have to learn the intuition for what’d be right for a dish for your taste buds :/