Cup (unit) explained

cup
Standard:US customary units
Quantity:Volume
Symbol:cup
Units Us1:SI units
Inunits Us1:236.588 mL

The cup is a cooking measure of volume, commonly associated with cooking and serving sizes. In the US, it is traditionally equal to NaNspell=inNaNspell=in. Because actual drinking cups may differ greatly from the size of this unit, standard measuring cups may be used, with a metric cup being 250 millilitres.

United States

Customary cup

In the United States, the customary cup is half of a liquid pint.

1 US customary cup =US customary gallon
=US customary quart
=US customary pint
=8US customary fluid ounces
=16US customary tablespoons
=48US customary teaspoons
=236.5882365milliliters exactly
=15.7725491international tablespoons
=11.829411825Australian tablespoons
8 imperial fluid ounces

Legal cup

The cup currently used in the United States for nutrition labelling is defined in United States law as 240 ml.[1] [2] [3]

1 US "legal" cup =240millilitres
=16international tablespoons
=12Australian tablespoons
=8US nutritional fluid ounces (30 ml each)
8.12US customary fluid ounces
8.45imperial fluid ounces

Conversion table to US legal cup

The following information is describing that how to measure US legal cup in different ways.[4]

1 cubic meter =4166.6667US legal cup
1 litre =4.16667US legal cup
1 US legal tablespoon =0.0625US legal cup
1 US legal teaspoon =0.020833333US legal cup
1 US gallon =15.772549US legal cup
1 US pint =1.9715686US legal cup
1 US cup =0.98578432US legal cup
1 US fluid ounce =0.12322304US legal cup
1 US tablespoon =0.06161152US legal cup
1 US teaspoon =0.020537173US legal cup
1 imperial gallon =18.942US legal cup
1 imperial pint =2.36776US legal cup
1 imperial fluid ounce =0.118388US legal cup
1 imperial tablespoon =0.0739924US legal cup
1 imperial teaspoon =0.0246641US legal cup
1 US cubic foot =117.987US legal cup
1 US cubic inch =0.0682794US legal cup

Coffee cup

A "cup" of coffee in the US is usually 4 fluid ounces (118 ml), brewed using 5 fluid ounces (148 ml) of water. Coffee carafes used with drip coffee makers, e.g. Black and Decker models, have markings for both water and brewed coffee as the carafe is also used for measuring water prior to brewing.[5] A 12-cup carafe, for example, has markings for 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 cups of water or coffee, which correspond to 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60 US fluid ounces (0.59, 0.89, 1.18, 1.48, and 1.77 litres) of water or 16, 24, 32, 40, and 48 US fluid ounces (0.47, 0.71, 0.95, 1.18, and 1.42 litres) of brewed coffee respectively, the difference being the volume absorbed by the coffee grounds and lost to evaporation during brewing.

Commonwealth of Nations

Metric cup

Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and some other members of the Commonwealth of Nations, being former British colonies that have since metricated, employ a "metric cup" of 250millilitres.[6] Although derived from the metric system, it is not an SI unit.[7]

1 cup =250millilitres
=16international tablespoons (15 ml each)
=12.5Australian tablespoons (20 ml each)
=25dessertspoons (10 ml each)
8.80imperial fluid ounces
8.45US customary fluid ounces

A "coffee cup" is 1.5 dL (i.e. 150 millilitres or 5.07 US customary fluid ounces), and is occasionally used in recipes; in older recipes, cup may mean "coffee cup". It is also used in the US to specify coffeemaker sizes (what can be referred to as a Tasse à café). A "12-cup" US coffeemaker makes 57.6 US customary fluid ounces of coffee, which is equal to 6.8 metric cups of coffee.

Canadian cup

Canada now usually employs the metric cup of 250ml, but its conventional cup was somewhat smaller than both American and imperial units.[8]

1 Canadian cup = 8 imperial fluid ounces = imperial gallon = NaN4NaN4

1 Canadian tablespoon = NaNimpoz

1 Canadian teaspoon = NaNimpoz

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom the standard cup was set at 10 imperial fluid ounces, or half an imperial pint. The cup was rarely used in practice, as historically most kitchens tended to be equipped with scales and ingredients were measured by weight, rather than volume.[9] A related measure, the gill (5 fluid ounces, or half an imperial cup), was commonly used in older cookbooks for liquids, and may still be used (in fractions of 1/4, 1/5 and 1/6) for spirits.

1 imperial cup =10imperial fluid ounces
=16imperial tablespoons
=48imperial teaspoons
284.131millilitres
9.6076US customary fluid ounces

International

Similar units in other languages and cultures are sometimes translated "cup", usually with various values around to of a litre.

Latin American cup

In Latin America, the amount of a "cup" (Spanish; Castilian: link=no|taza) varies from country to country, using a cup of 200ml, 250ml, and the US legal or customary amount.

Japanese cup

The traditional Japanese unit equated with a "cup" size is the , legally equated with litres (≈180.4 ml) in 1891, and is still used for reckoning amounts of rice and sake. The Japanese later defined a "cup" as 200 ml.

1 Japanese cup =200millilitres
7.04imperial fluid ounces
6.76US customary fluid ounces

Russian cup

The traditional Russian measurement system included two cup sizes, one of which, the "charka" (cup proper), was usually used for alcoholic drinks and measured 123ml, while another, "stakan" ("glass") was twice as big at 246ml and used for other liquids.

Since metrication, the charka was informally redefined as 100 ml, acquiring a new name of "stopka" (related to the traditional Russian measurement unit "stopa"), while there are currently two widely used glass sizes of 250 and 200 ml.

Dutch cup

In The Netherlands, traditionally a "cup" (Dutch: kopje) amounts to 150 ml. However, in modern recipes the US legal cup of 240 ml is more commonly used.

Dry measure

In Europe, recipes normally weigh non-liquid ingredients in grams rather than measuring volume. For example, where an American recipe might specify "1 cup of sugar and 2 cups of milk", a European recipe might specify "200 g sugar and 500 ml of milk". A precise conversion between the two measures takes into account the density of the ingredients, and some recipes specify both weight and volume to facilitate this conversion. Many European measuring cups have markings that indicate the weight of common ingredients for a given volume.

Volume to mass conversions for some common cooking ingredients
IngredientDensity
g/ml
Metric cupImperial cupUS customary cup
gozgozgoz
water[10] 1249–2508.8283–28410236.58828.3
granulated sugar0.8[11] 2007.02308.01906.7
wheat flour0.5–0.6120–1504.4–5.3140–1705.0–6.0120–1404.2–5.0
table salt1.230010.634012.028010.0

See also

Notes and References

  1. (21 CFR 101.9 (b) (5) (viii)
  2. http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&rgn=div8&view=text&node=21:2.0.1.1.2.1.1.6&idno=21 US Government Printing Office—Electronic Code of Federal Regulations
  3. https://www.fda.gov/food/guidanceregulation/guidancedocumentsregulatoryinformation/ucm063102.htm U.S. Food and Drug Administration—Guidelines for Determining Metric Equivalents of Household Measures
  4. Web site: US Legal Cup Measures . 16 November 2020 . 17 November 2020 . 19 November 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201119092848/https://thenewsengine.com/how-many-ounces-of-water-in-a-gallon-convert-gallon-to-oz . dead .
  5. Web site: Black and Decker Replacement Carafe . 2016-12-30 . 2016-12-31 . https://web.archive.org/web/20161231074520/http://www.blackanddeckerappliances.com/products/coffee-and-tea/coffee-and-tea-accessories/replacement-carafe-gc3000b.aspx . dead .
  6. Web site: Standard Australian Cooking Measurements . 2014-09-24.
  7. Web site: coherent units . BIPM . 2014-05-26.
  8. Web site: How Many Tablespoons in a Cup - Easy Conversions. 2016-04-28. First Health Mag. en-US. 2016-05-08.
  9. Stobart, Tom (1981).The Cook's Encyclopedia, Harper & Row, p.524
  10. 1 g/ml is a good rough guide for water-based liquids such as milk (the density of milk is about).
  11. L. Fulton, E. Matthews, C. Davis: Average weight of a measured cup of various foods. Home Economics Research Report No. 41, Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC, 1977.