Unsweetened Shredded Coconut

One US cup of unsweetened shredded coconut weighs 80 grams (2.8 ounces). Going the other way, 100 grams is about 1.25 cups.

Also called shredded coconut unsweetened, unsweetened coconut shreds, medium shred coconut, dried shredded coconut, coconut shreds.

Coconut products compared: cup weights side by side, the source behind each, and why they differ.

Unsweetened shredded coconut weighs 80 g per US cup (2.8 oz), a density of 0.338 g/mL. Bob's Red Mill, Anthony's, Terrasoul and NOW all label 3 tablespoons at 15 g, and America's Test Kitchen weighed 3 cups at 227 g, 76 g per cup. King Arthur's 53 g is a third lighter than every one of them and is rejected.

Unsweetened shredded coconut is dried coconut meat cut into short strands, with no sugar added. USDA puts dried unsweetened coconut at 3% water, 64.5% fat and 16% fibre. Brands sell several cuts: fine shred, often called desiccated, medium shred, the usual "shredded coconut", and large flakes or chips. It goes into granola, macaroons, curries, energy bites and low-sugar baking.

The labels are the main evidence, and they are better than most label figures. The US reference serving for coconut is a weight, 15 g, but each brand has to say how much volume that weight fills, and four brands of medium shred independently say 3 tablespoons, 80 g per cup. NOW calls its product medium shred outright. America's Test Kitchen's macaroon recipe calls for 3 cups weighing about 8 ounces, which is 76 g per cup, within 6% of the labels. USDA's record for dried unsweetened coconut gives only an ounce, no cup.

Cut matters a little. Let's Do Organic's fine shred labels 2 1/2 tablespoons at 15 g, 96 g per cup, and the unsweetened desiccated coconut entry on this site, the finest cut, sits at 85 g. Large flakes are lighter at 60 g, because broad flat pieces stack with more air. Sweetened shredded coconut weighs 93 g in USDA's measurement, the sugar coating adding weight and filling gaps between strands.

King Arthur's chart lists unsweetened shredded coconut at 1 cup = 1 7/8 oz = 53 g. That is lighter than its own large flakes at 60 g, which only a long, loose thread of coconut could be, and a third lighter than the medium shreds sold as shredded coconut. Whatever King Arthur weighed, it is not what a baker gets from a bag labelled shredded coconut, so the figure is recorded as a rejected source with its own correction page.

The physical check is simple: dried coconut meat is roughly as dense as water once its fat and fibre are averaged, close to 1 g/mL, and a cup of shreds at 0.338 g/mL is about one third coconut and two thirds air. Finer cuts fill the gaps better and weigh more; flakes leave more air.

Practical guidance: 1 cup is 80 g, 1/2 cup 40 g, 1/4 cup 20 g and 1 tablespoon 5 g. A 12-oz bag holds 340 g, about 4 1/4 cups; an 8-oz bag 227 g, about 2 3/4 cups. Shredded coconut is springy and packs down if pressed, so spoon it in loosely and level it, or weigh it for macaroons, where the coconut is the structure.

The coconut products comparison page shows unsweetened shreds beside desiccated, sweetened and flaked coconut and the other coconut products.

The following published figures for unsweetened shredded coconut are rejected here, with the physics or standards reasoning behind each rejection on its own page:

• King Arthur Baking Ingredient Weight Chart: 53 g per cup