Coconut (unsweetened, desiccated)

One US cup of coconut (unsweetened, desiccated) weighs 85 grams. Going the other way, 100 grams is about 1.18 cups.

Also called unsweetened desiccated coconut, desiccated coconut, unsweetened coconut, coconut desiccated, fine shred coconut, unsulfured desiccated coconut.

Unsweetened desiccated coconut publishes at 85 grams per cup, with King Arthur and Let's Do Organic package data in exact agreement. King Arthur publishes 85 g/cup on their Ingredient Weight Chart, and Let's Do Organic's 8-ounce (227 g) package is explicitly labeled as 2 2/3 cups, which computes to 85.1 g/cup. Bob's Red Mill's unsweetened shredded coconut serves as a third data point at 80 g/cup (derived from their labeled 3 tablespoons = 15 g serving size), which sits within reasonable manufacturing variance of the 85 g figure. USDA SR Legacy record 170170 (Nuts, coconut meat, dried desiccated, not sweetened) provides the definitive nutritional composition for this ingredient (660 kcal/100g, 64.5% fat) but does not publish a cup portion, only 100 g and 1 oz serving sizes. This entry uses producer package data as the second authoritative source to compensate for the USDA cup portion gap.

The density of 0.3593 g/mL is unusual to see broken into physical mechanism. Desiccated coconut is finely shredded and dried coconut meat, essentially small dry particles rather than the long fibrous strands of coarser shredded coconut. The fine particles pack tightly against each other with modest interstitial air, giving a density well below water despite the ingredient itself being quite dense per gram (mostly fat and fiber, very little water). The 85 g/cup figure is close to a natural packing limit for finely ground dry coconut meat.

A terminology conflict across manufacturers deserves flagging. Different brands use different names for similar cuts. Bob's Red Mill labels their fine-shred product as 'unsweetened shredded' (80 g/cup) while Let's Do Organic labels their similar-density product as 'unsweetened shredded' (85 g/cup); King Arthur separates 'desiccated' (85 g/cup) from 'shredded' (53 g/cup) explicitly, treating them as different states. In KA's terminology, desiccated means finely ground and shredded means longer stringy fibers. In Bob's and Let's Do terminology, shredded covers the fine-ground state that KA calls desiccated. Bakers cross-referencing recipes and product labels should verify which cut a specific product is by measuring or by checking the packaged serving weight.

Compared to the coconut cluster on the site, unsweetened desiccated at 85 g/cup lands at the same cup weight as sweetened shredded (also 85 g in KA, 93 g in USDA) despite the two being different products. The convergence happens because two independent mechanisms produce similar outcomes: sweetened shredded packs densely due to sugar coating filling interstitial gaps, and unsweetened desiccated packs densely because the finely ground particles have less air between them to begin with. Unsweetened shredded (larger strand length, no sugar coating) at 53 g/cup and unsweetened large flakes (broad flat pieces) at 60 g/cup are both much lighter because both retain more interstitial air than the desiccated state.

Category assignment is milled. Desiccated coconut is dried plant material similar to wheat bran, flax meal, and coconut flour, all of which sit in milled. The sugar category is reserved for granulated sugars, salts, chocolate chips, and small dried fruits, all of which pack as small hard particulate solids. Desiccated coconut is fibrous plant particulate rather than crystalline, so milled is the correct home.

Confidence is medium. Three sources (KA, Let's Do Organic package label, Bob's Red Mill product data) cluster tightly at 80-85 g/cup, and USDA compositional data confirms the ingredient identity. Confidence is not high because USDA does not publish a cup portion, which is unusual for a common commercial ingredient. Bakers should treat 85 g/cup as accurate for standard unsweetened desiccated coconut and check the package label if using a brand that specifies a different serving weight.