Minced garlic: why 224 g per cup is wrong
King Arthur Baking Ingredient Weight Chart publishes 224 g (7.9 oz) per US cup of minced garlic. This site rejects that figure and publishes 134 g (4.7 oz) instead, from USDA SR Legacy "Garlic, raw" (FDC 169230) (density 0.5681 g/mL, matching the composition of the substance). The reason:
Two tablespoons is one fluid ounce, and King Arthur gives it as one ounce by weight, 28 g: the fluid ounce read as a weight ounce, which puts minced garlic at 0.95 g/mL, nearly the weight of water. Garlic minced by hand is small moist pieces with air between them: USDA weighs a teaspoon at 2.8 g and the Culinary Institute of America a tablespoon at 8 g, 0.54-0.57 g/mL, and King Arthur's own peeled and sliced garlic is 149 g a cup, 0.63 g/mL. 28 g for two tablespoons fits garlic packed in water from a jar (5 g a teaspoon), not garlic minced at home.
The arithmetic
| Source | 1 cup | Density | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| King Arthur Baking Ingredient Weight Chart | 224 g7.9 oz | 0.9468 g/mL | Rejected on physics |
| USDA SR Legacy "Garlic, raw" (FDC 169230) | 134 g4.7 oz | 0.5681 g/mL | Published here |
The published figure and its sources
The full sourcing for minced garlic, 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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