Demerara Sugar: why 220 g per cup is wrong
King Arthur Baking (Ingredient Weight Chart) publishes 220 g per US cup of demerara sugar. This site rejects that figure and publishes 192 g instead, from USDA Branded Foods (via aqua-calc) — UPC 075779311169 (density 0.812 g/mL, matching the composition of the substance). The reason:
Fifteen percent higher than four-way USDA branded producer convergence at 192 g/cup, and inconsistent with KA's own turbinado sugar figure (180 g/cup). Turbinado and demerara are physically near-identical coarse-crystal raw cane sugars, and there is no physical basis for demerara to pack 22 percent denser than turbinado in the same measuring cup by the same methodology. Best read as an anomalous chart entry rather than a general reference.
The arithmetic
| Source | 1 cup | Density | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| King Arthur Baking (Ingredient Weight Chart) | 220 g | 0.9299 g/mL | Rejected on physics |
| USDA Branded Foods (via aqua-calc) — UPC 075779311169 | 192 g | 0.812 g/mL | Published here |
The published figure and its sources
The full sourcing for demerara sugar, including every accepted and rejected figure, the state or filling method behind each, and the physics or standards reasoning applied, is on the ingredient page.
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