Cup (volume)

The cup is a unit of measurement for volume, used in cooking to measure bulk foods, such as granulated sugar (dry measurement), and liquids (fluid measurement). It is in common use in the United States and nations influenced by them, such as Japan. This cup is hardly ever used in the United Kingdom or the rest of Europe, however an informal cup referring to the volume of an average coffee cup (and thus noticeably different than the U.S. cup) is frequently used in recipes in other countries such as Germany.

Definitions

There is no internationally agreed standard definition of the cup, which ranges in volume between 200 and 250 millilitres. [Note also that cup sizes in recipes do not necessarily equate serving sizes for beverages. For example, a cup of brewed coffee in the U.S. is traditionally only 6 U.S. fluid ounces (180 ml).] Because the cup sizes generally used in the many Commonwealth countries and the United States differ only by about 13 ml (0.5 fl oz), the respective measures are close enough for cooking.

Commonwealth of Nations

:;Imperial cup:The imperial cup was defined as half an imperial pint. The unit is no longer in use.::

:;United States "legal" cup:The cup currently used in the United States for nutrition labelling is defined in United States law [(21 CFR 101.9 (b) (5) (viii)] as 240 ml. [ [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 U.S. Government Printing Office—Electronic Code of Federal Regulations] ] [ [http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/flmetric.html U.S. Food and Drug Administration—Guidelines for Determining Metric Equivalents of Household Measures] ] ::

Using volume measures to estimate mass

In Europe, cooking recipes normally state any liquid volumes larger than a few tablespoons in millilitres, 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. Some recipes in Europe use the "decilitre" (1 dl = 100 ml) as a cup-like measure. 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). Conversion between the two measures must take into account the density of the ingredients.

Notes and references