What is "a cup" ?
Replies
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8 oz in 1 cup1
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8 fl oz, 250 mls, 16 tbsp1
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a cup is a non-metric liquid measurement. It is not a weight measurement.3
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In the USA a cup is 227ml (Imperial cup)
In Australia, it is 250ml (Metric Cup)
Other countries have various other measures of a cup (200ml in Japan, for example)3 -
The definition varies by country.
Since MFP is US based, many of the entries for recipes will be using the US Customary Cup, which is defined in the US as 8.0 fluid ounces.
However, as used on US Nutrition Facts labels for liquids, a cup is defined in US regulations as 240 milliliters, which is about 8.12 fluid ounces.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cup_(unit)2 -
Many recipes seem to use this expression, is there a size or weight for this?
If it is a liquid a cup is 8 oz.
There is a dry measuring cup though which is different than a liquid measuring cup. It is a standard size kitchen tool but the weight would depend on the item put into it and how it packs into the cup.
http://dish.allrecipes.com/cup-to-gram-conversions/1 -
Oh so that's that cleared up!2
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If you need a rough approximation, there are around 4 cups in a liter.0
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Many recipes seem to use this expression, is there a size or weight for this?
If it is a liquid a cup is 8 oz.
There is a dry measuring cup though which is different than a liquid measuring cup. It is a standard size kitchen tool but the weight would depend on the item put into it and how it packs into the cup.
http://dish.allrecipes.com/cup-to-gram-conversions/
A 'dry' measuring cup is still 8 fl oz. There's no difference between that and a liquid measuring cup. I've seen this notion on these boards before and I have no idea where people got that idea from.
I use this chart
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/ingredient-weight-chart.html
But you have to keep in mind that a lot of times the recipes that give volume instead of weights for solids can give different results when you convert in grams (I've had to throw away some bread dough because clearly for that recipe they had packed the flour to 140g minimum per cup because my dough was soup using the standard 120g 'cup' equivalent). I'm not sure where All Recipes got that 128g per cup thing for flour though, considering that every single brand of flour says that one serving is 1/4 cup (30 or 31g) on the package.2 -
Many recipes seem to use this expression, is there a size or weight for this?
If it is a liquid a cup is 8 oz.
There is a dry measuring cup though which is different than a liquid measuring cup. It is a standard size kitchen tool but the weight would depend on the item put into it and how it packs into the cup.
http://dish.allrecipes.com/cup-to-gram-conversions/
A 'dry' measuring cup is still 8 fl oz. There's no difference between that and a liquid measuring cup. I've seen this notion on these boards before and I have no idea where people got that idea from.
I use this chart
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/ingredient-weight-chart.html
But you have to keep in mind that a lot of times the recipes that give volume instead of weights for solids can give different results when you convert in grams (I've had to throw away some bread dough because clearly for that recipe they had packed the flour to 140g minimum per cup because my dough was soup using the standard 120g 'cup' equivalent). I'm not sure where All Recipes got that 128g per cup thing for flour though, considering that every single brand of flour says that one serving is 1/4 cup (30 or 31g) on the package.
Nope, there is a difference. The difference is that they're designed to fit the ingredients that they're trying to measure better than their counterpart. Click. Of course, a scale is more accurate than both, but if you try to bake with a liquid measuring cup for dry goods, you're not going to have a fun time. My aunt has made peanut butter cookies to prove it (not on purpose).1 -
Alatariel75 wrote: »In the USA a cup is 227ml (Imperial cup)
In Australia, it is 250ml (Metric Cup)
Other countries have various other measures of a cup (200ml in Japan, for example)
well it says its 236.59 ml for the us. that said my milk,oj,etc say 8 oz or (240ml), yet all my measuring cups say 235ml on them.227 converts to 0.9594728901082199 in cups so it varies in the US per liquid I suppose. a bottle of hint water is 16oz and says (474ml) which would be 237 ml per 8oz. confusing Id say lol so its true that everything is an estimate in this regard0 -
Many recipes seem to use this expression, is there a size or weight for this?
If it is a liquid a cup is 8 oz.
There is a dry measuring cup though which is different than a liquid measuring cup. It is a standard size kitchen tool but the weight would depend on the item put into it and how it packs into the cup.
http://dish.allrecipes.com/cup-to-gram-conversions/
A 'dry' measuring cup is still 8 fl oz. There's no difference between that and a liquid measuring cup. I've seen this notion on these boards before and I have no idea where people got that idea from.
I use this chart
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/ingredient-weight-chart.html
But you have to keep in mind that a lot of times the recipes that give volume instead of weights for solids can give different results when you convert in grams (I've had to throw away some bread dough because clearly for that recipe they had packed the flour to 140g minimum per cup because my dough was soup using the standard 120g 'cup' equivalent). I'm not sure where All Recipes got that 128g per cup thing for flour though, considering that every single brand of flour says that one serving is 1/4 cup (30 or 31g) on the package.
how is 8 fl oz the same as 8 oz of something dry? http://www.thekitchn.com/whats-the-difference-between-ounces-and-fluid-ounces-2243030 -
yellingkimber wrote: »Many recipes seem to use this expression, is there a size or weight for this?
If it is a liquid a cup is 8 oz.
There is a dry measuring cup though which is different than a liquid measuring cup. It is a standard size kitchen tool but the weight would depend on the item put into it and how it packs into the cup.
http://dish.allrecipes.com/cup-to-gram-conversions/
A 'dry' measuring cup is still 8 fl oz. There's no difference between that and a liquid measuring cup. I've seen this notion on these boards before and I have no idea where people got that idea from.
I use this chart
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/ingredient-weight-chart.html
But you have to keep in mind that a lot of times the recipes that give volume instead of weights for solids can give different results when you convert in grams (I've had to throw away some bread dough because clearly for that recipe they had packed the flour to 140g minimum per cup because my dough was soup using the standard 120g 'cup' equivalent). I'm not sure where All Recipes got that 128g per cup thing for flour though, considering that every single brand of flour says that one serving is 1/4 cup (30 or 31g) on the package.
Nope, there is a difference. The difference is that they're designed to fit the ingredients that they're trying to measure better than their counterpart. Click. Of course, a scale is more accurate than both, but if you try to bake with a liquid measuring cup for dry goods, you're not going to have a fun time. My aunt has made peanut butter cookies to prove it (not on purpose).
.. it's still a cup. 8 liquid ounces. Although I admit that it never even occurred to me to use a 'wet' measuring cup instead of a 'dry' one for dry food. Or to 'tap' the cup to make more sugar/flour fit (what's the purpose of that anyway?).CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »Many recipes seem to use this expression, is there a size or weight for this?
If it is a liquid a cup is 8 oz.
There is a dry measuring cup though which is different than a liquid measuring cup. It is a standard size kitchen tool but the weight would depend on the item put into it and how it packs into the cup.
http://dish.allrecipes.com/cup-to-gram-conversions/
A 'dry' measuring cup is still 8 fl oz. There's no difference between that and a liquid measuring cup. I've seen this notion on these boards before and I have no idea where people got that idea from.
I use this chart
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/ingredient-weight-chart.html
But you have to keep in mind that a lot of times the recipes that give volume instead of weights for solids can give different results when you convert in grams (I've had to throw away some bread dough because clearly for that recipe they had packed the flour to 140g minimum per cup because my dough was soup using the standard 120g 'cup' equivalent). I'm not sure where All Recipes got that 128g per cup thing for flour though, considering that every single brand of flour says that one serving is 1/4 cup (30 or 31g) on the package.
how is 8 fl oz the same as 8 oz of something dry? http://www.thekitchn.com/whats-the-difference-between-ounces-and-fluid-ounces-224303
Who even said that?0 -
estherdragonbat wrote: »8 fl oz, 250 mls, 16 tbsp
237 ml in a us cup
250 ml in a metric cup
Google will probably answer these questions.
For water at 4°C, 250 ml (1 metric cup) will weigh 250 g. This is not true for any other substance.
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So the idea of a liquid volume is clear but why use a cup for solids such as spinach, why not just the weight?1
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So the idea of a liquid volume is clear but why use a cup for solids such as spinach, why not just the weight?
Historically people didn't always have a set of kitchen scales so using a measuring cup was the next best thing. Having a recipe that said add 1 cup of flour would still be "fairly" accurate.
Why it's still used I've no idea. Especially when you see entries like "Carrots - 1 cup".
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So the idea of a liquid volume is clear but why use a cup for solids such as spinach, why not just the weight?
Beats me. It's actually kinda funny because in France we have those measuring cups with just different markings for the type of thing you have in it - liquid, flour, sugar etc. Nobody's ever questioned what's the 'dry' or 'liquid' measuring cup there, it's just one cup for everything, and they are tall like liquid measuring cups here.
Guessing it's cheaper than to buy a food scale, or at least it was 15 years ago when I lived there and scales were not necessarily accurate - probably why most recipes still use cups here nowadays. Hopefully in 10 years things will change.0 -
a cup is a size related to volume. It is a non metric SI unit and used in some countries only.
Because it is a volume size it cannot be converted to weight with any degree of certainty unless you know the (bulk) density of the product you are converting. The same recipes will use teaspoons, table spoons etc It is basically the old-fashioned way a kitchen used to work. To me it always feels as a little bit of this and a larger bit of that type cooking.
As a cup is a volume based old system it can be used for liquids as they do convert to ml. However do note not all cups are created equal there is a difference in cup size between the different countries (UK/US)
The rest of the world uses grams if they want weight and ml or l if they want volumes.2 -
Hawaiian_Iceberg wrote: »So the idea of a liquid volume is clear but why use a cup for solids such as spinach, why not just the weight?
Historically people didn't always have a set of kitchen scales so using a measuring cup was the next best thing. Having a recipe that said add 1 cup of flour would still be "fairly" accurate.
Why it's still used I've no idea. Especially when you see entries like "Carrots - 1 cup".
The countries that use them are still not metric - stuck in old sizes systems0
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