Cranberry juice cocktail
One US cup of cranberry juice cocktail weighs 253 grams (8.9 ounces). Going the other way, 100 grams is about 0.40 cups.
Also called cranberry cocktail, cranberry juice drink, Ocean Spray cranberry juice cocktail, sweetened cranberry juice.
Most sites print a number for a cup of cranberry juice cocktail and do not say where it came from. This page publishes 253 g (8.9 oz), names USDA SR Legacy "Cranberry juice cocktail, bottled" (FDC 171903), Health Canada, Nutrient Value of Some Common Foods (2008), Table 5, FAO/INFOODS Density Database, Version 2.0 (2012) and USDA Commercial Item Description A-A-20327A, Cranberry Juice Products (2020), and records the source that was checked against an independent standard and rejected.
| Volume | Grams | Ounces |
|---|---|---|
| 1 cup | 253 g | 8.9 oz |
| 3/4 cup | 189.8 g | 6.7 oz |
| 2/3 cup | 168.7 g | 5.9 oz |
| 1/2 cup | 126.5 g | 4.5 oz |
| 1/3 cup | 84.3 g | 3 oz |
| 1/4 cup | 63.3 g | 2.2 oz |
| 1 tablespoon | 15.8 g | 0.56 oz |
| 1 teaspoon | 5.3 g | 0.19 oz |
Cranberry juice cocktail ounces to grams and cups
| Weight | Grams | US cups |
|---|---|---|
| 1 oz | 28.3 g | 0.11 |
| 4 oz | 113.4 g | 0.45 |
| 8 oz | 226.8 g | 0.90 |
| 16 oz (1 lb) | 453.6 g | 1.79 |
Compared side by side
Fruit juices compared: cup weights side by side, the source behind each, and why they differ.
Where this number comes from
A cup of cranberry juice cocktail weighs 253 g (8.9 oz), a density of 1.07 g/mL. USDA weighs a cup of bottled cocktail at 253 g, Health Canada's 125 mL at 134 g, 253.6 g per cup, and USDA's measured specific gravity for the drink is 1.05. A second USDA record that gives 271 g per cup contradicts its own composition and is rejected.
Cranberry juice cocktail is the sweetened cranberry drink Ocean Spray made famous: about a quarter cranberry juice, with water and sugar. USDA's purchase specification for it calls for 27% cranberry juice by volume and 12 to 16 °Brix of dissolved solids. It is the cranberry juice of most cocktails and punches, and of many cranberry sauce and baking recipes that call simply for cranberry juice.
USDA's Standard Reference record for bottled cocktail (FDC 171903) gives 1 cup (8 fl oz) as 253 g. Health Canada's Nutrient Value of Some Common Foods weighs 125 mL at 134 g, 1.072 g/mL. The FAO/INFOODS density database lists the drink at 1.05 g/mL from USDA's own specific gravity measurements, 248.4 g per cup. The three agree within 2.1%, and USDA's 253 g, the figure most cited, is published at high confidence.
A second USDA record, Beverages, Cranberry juice cocktail (FDC 173214), gives 1 cup as 271 g, 1.145 g/mL. It cannot be right, and the record itself shows why: it lists 236.8 g of water in that cup. That much water alone fills 237 mL, the whole cup, leaving no room for the 31 g of sugar the same record lists. A density of 1.145 g/mL belongs to a syrup of about 33% sugar. The figure is still copied by nutrition sites and is rejected here.
The physical check: at the specification's 12 to 16 °Brix, a sugar solution weighs 1.045 to 1.062 g/mL by the USDA sucrose table, 247 to 251 g per cup, which brackets USDA's measured 1.05 and sits just under the 253 g cup figures. Light and diet cocktails, sweetened with sucralose or saccharin instead of sugar, carry almost no dissolved solids and weigh close to water; no source weighs them.
As with any juice, how the cup is filled does not change the weight, because a liquid leaves no air in the cup. What changes it is the recipe: cranberry-apple, cranberry-grape and other cocktail blends sit at the same 12 to 16 °Brix and weigh about the same per cup.
Practical guidance: use 253 g per cup, 127 g per half cup, 63 g per quarter cup and 15.8 g per tablespoon. A 64 fl oz bottle holds 8 cups, about 2.02 kg.
Sources
Standard, bottled, at room temperature
- USDA SR Legacy "Cranberry juice cocktail, bottled" (FDC 171903)253 g per cup8.9 ozUSDA Standard Release (NDB 14242) publishes 1 cup (8 fl oz) = 253 g (density 1.069 g/mL), with 218 g of water and 30 g of sugars per cup. Read through ReciPal and getfoodfacts.
- Health Canada, Nutrient Value of Some Common Foods (2008), Table 5253.6 g per cup8.9 oz"Cranberry juice cocktail, ready-to-drink, vitamin C added" 125 mL = 134 g (76 kcal), 253.6 g per US cup (density 1.072 g/mL).
- FAO/INFOODS Density Database, Version 2.0 (2012)248.4 g per cup8.8 ozTable 2: "Cranberry juice cocktail, bottled" density 1.05 g/mL, specific gravity 1.05, from USDA ARS, Specific Gravity of Selected Beverages (2011). 248.4 g per US cup; temperature not stated.
- USDA Commercial Item Description A-A-20327A, Cranberry Juice Products (2020)Cranberry juice cocktail, Style A: "27% cranberry juice by volume", soluble solids "12.0 - 16.0°Brix", which weighs 1.045 to 1.062 g/mL by the USDA sucrose table (247 to 251 g per cup). Specification, no cup weight.
- USDA SR Legacy "Beverages, Cranberry juice cocktail" (FDC 173214)271 g per cup9.6 ozUSDA Standard Release (NDB 14284) publishes 1 cup = 271 g (density 1.145 g/mL), with 236.8 g of water and 31 g of sugars in that cup.Rejected. The record's own composition rules it out: it lists 236.8 g of water in the cup, and 236.8 g of water alone fills 237 mL, the whole cup, leaving no room for the 31 g of sugar it also lists. 1.145 g/mL is the density of a syrup of about 33% sugar; cranberry juice cocktail is 12 to 16 °Brix. USDA's other cranberry juice cocktail record weighs a cup at 253 g, Health Canada at 253.6 g, and USDA's measured specific gravity is 1.05.
Corrections on this ingredient
The following published figures for cranberry juice cocktail are rejected here, with the physics or standards reasoning behind each rejection on its own page:
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