Cup (unit)

A simple plastic measuring cup, capable of holding the volume one cup.

The cup is a customary unit of measurement for volume, used in cooking to measure liquids (fluid measurement) and bulk foods such as granulated sugar (dry measurement). This measure is usually used as an informal unit in cooking recipes where precision is rarely required, rather than as a measure for the sale of foodstuffs.

Actual cups used in a household in any country may differ from the cup size used for recipes; standard measuring cups, often calibrated in fluid measure and weights of usual dry ingredients as well as in cups, are available.

Definitions

There is no internationally-agreed standard definition of the cup, whose modern volume ranges between 200 and 284 millilitres.^{[nb 1]} In some countries, there is no formal definition at all of how much "one cup" is; for example, in German recipes it will simply refer to an amount that roughly fits into a typical teacup. The cup sizes generally used in Commonwealth countries and the United States differ by up to 44 mL (1.5 fl oz).

No matter what size cup is used, the ingredients of a recipe measured with the same size cup will have their volumes in the same proportion to one another. The relative amounts to ingredients measured differently (by weight, or by different measures of volume such as teaspoons, etc.) may be affected by the definitions used.

Metric cup

In Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Latin American, South Africa and Lebanon one cup is commonly defined as 250 millilitres.

1 metric cup	=	250	millilitres
	=	16⅔	international tablespoons (15 mL each)
	=	12½	Australian tablespoons
	≈	8.80	imperial fluid ounces
	≈	8.45	U.S. customary fluid ounces

United States customary cup

United States customary cup is defined as half a U.S. pint.

1 U.S. customary cup	=	1⁄16	U.S. customary gallon
	=	1⁄4	U.S. customary quart
	=	1⁄2	U.S. customary pint
	=	8	U.S. customary fluid ounces
	=	16	U.S. customary tablespoons[nb 2]
	=	236.5882365	millilitres[nb 3]
	≈	15⅔	international tablespoons
	≈	11¾	Australian tablespoons
	≈	0.833	imperial cups
	≈	8.33	imperial fluid ounces

United States "legal" cup

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

1 U.S. "legal" cup	=	240	millilitres
	=	16	international tablespoons
	=	12	Australian tablespoons
	≈	8.12	U.S. customary fluid ounces
	≈	8.45	imperial fluid ounces

Imperial cup

The imperial cup, unofficially defined as half an imperial pint, is rarely found today. It may still appear on older kitchen utensils and in older recipe books.

1 imperial cup	=	0.5	imperial pints
	=	2	imperial gills
	=	10	imperial fluid ounces
	=	284	millilitres
	≈	19	international tablespoons[4][5]
	≈	14¼	Australian tablespoons[6]
	≈	1.20	U.S. customary cups
	≈	9.61	U.S. customary fluid ounces

Japanese cup

The Japanese cup is currently defined as 200 mL.

1 Japanese cup	=	200	millilitres
	≈	7.04	imperial fluid ounces
	≈	6.76	U.S. customary fluid ounces

Gō

The traditional Japanese cup, the gō, is approximately 180 mL. 10 gō make one shō, the traditional flask size, approximately 1.8 litres. Gō cups are typically used for measuring rice, and sake is typically sold by the cup (180 mL), the bottle (720 mL), and flask (1.8 litre) sizes. Note modern sake bottle sizes are almost the same as the 750 mL standard for wine bottles, but are divisible into 4 gō.

1 gō	=	2401⁄13310	litres[nb 4]
	≈	180.3907	millilitres
	≈	6.35	imperial fluid ounces
	≈	6.10	U.S. customary fluid ounces

Using volume measures to estimate mass

In Europe, cooking recipes normally state any liquid volume larger than a few tablespoons in millilitres,^{[citation needed]} the scale found on most measuring cups worldwide. Non-liquid ingredients are normally weighed in grams instead, using a kitchen scale, rather than measured in cups. Most recipes in Europe use the millilitre or decilitre (1 dL = 100 mL) as a measure of volume. For example, where an American customary 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" (or ½ litre or 5 decilitres).^{[citation needed]} Conversion between the two measures must take into account the density of the ingredients. Many European measuring cups have additional scales for common bulk ingredients like sugar, flour, or rice to make the process easier.

Volume to mass conversions for some common cooking ingredients
ingredient	density g/mL[nb 5]	metric cup		imperial cup		U.S. customary cup
		g	oz	g	oz	g	oz
water[7]	1[nb 6]	249–250	8.8	283–284	10	236–237	8.3[nb 7]
granulated sugar	0.8[8]	200	7.0	230	8.0	190	6.7
wheat flour	0.5–0.6[8]	120–150	4.4–5.3	140–170	5.0–6.0	120–140	4.2–5.0
table salt	1.2[8]	300	10.6	340	12.0	280	10.0

See also

• Measuring cup

Notes

1. ^ Cup sizes in recipes are not necessarily the same as customary serving sizes for beverages. For example, a cup of brewed coffee in the U.S. is typically 6 U.S. fluid ounces (180 mL).
2. ^ 1 U.S. customary cup = 16 tablespoons exactly using the old U.S. customary tablespoon of ¹⁄₂ U.S. fl oz.
3. ^ exactly
4. ^ by 1891 definition
5. ^ One gram per millilitre is very close to one avoirdupois ounce per fluid ounce: 1 g/mL ≈ 1.002 av oz/imp fl oz This is not a numerical coincidence, but comes from the original definition of the kilogram as the mass of one litre of water, and the imperial gallon as the volume occupied by ten avoirdupois pounds of water. The slight difference is due to water at 4 °C (39 °F) being used for the kilogram, and at 62 °F (17 °C) for the imperial gallon. The U.S. fluid ounce is slightly larger.

   1 g/mL ≈ 1.043 av oz/U.S. fl oz

6. ^ The density of water ranges from about 0.96 to 1.00 g/mL dependent on temperature and pressure. The table above assumes a temperature range 0–30 °C (32–86 °F). The variation is too small to make any difference in cooking.
   • Water density calculator
   • The Physics Factbook
7. ^ Since an imperial cup of water weighs approximately 10 avoirdupois ounces and five imperial cups are approximately equal to six U.S. cups, one U.S. cup of water weighs approximately 8⅓ avoirdupois ounces.

References

1. ^ (21 CFR 101.9 (b) (5) (viii)
2. ^ U.S. Government Printing Office—Electronic Code of Federal Regulations
3. ^ U.S. Food and Drug Administration—Guidelines for Determining Metric Equivalents of Household Measures
4. ^ In the absence of measuring cups, tablespoons can be used for volume measurement.
5. ^ The term international tablespoon as used in this article refers to the 15 mL (~½ fl oz) tablespoon used in most countries.
6. ^ The Australia tablespoon is defined as 20 mL (~⅔ fl oz)
7. ^ 1 g/mL is a good rough guide for water-based liquids such as milk (the density of milk is about 1.03–1.04 g/mL).
8. ^ ^{a b c} 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.