Ground cloves

One US cup of ground cloves weighs between 96 and 137 grams (3.4 to 4.8 ounces), depending on how the cup is filled and which source measured it. That range is the answer; a single number would not be. Every figure behind it is below, with the method each source used.

TL;DR: **One US cup of ground cloves weighs anywhere from 96 to 137 g depending on grind fineness and how settled the jar is — the central cluster is 100-112 g/cup where USDA and home-baker references converge.** USDA's reference is 112 g/cup (7 g per tablespoon, 2.1 g per teaspoon). King Arthur does not publish a per-cup weight, leaving no anchor to correct against. The 43% spread is driven by ground cloves' exceptionally high volatile oil content, which promotes both clumping and compaction over shelf time.

Ground cloves are the dried unopened flower buds of *Syzygium aromaticum*, an evergreen tree native to the Maluku Islands of Indonesia (the historical Spice Islands). Commercial supply today comes primarily from Indonesia, Madagascar, Zanzibar, Sri Lanka, and Comoros. The bud is picked before it opens, sun-dried until brittle, and then ground to a fine dark brown powder. Cloves are chemically defined by eugenol, a phenylpropanoid compound that comprises up to 90% of the essential oil and gives cloves their signature warm, numbing, medicinal aroma. This same eugenol is what makes ground allspice smell clove-like — allspice contains eugenol at 60-80% of its oil, hence the family resemblance.

The density spread across sources is unusually wide. USDA FoodData Central FDC 171321 lists 7 g per tablespoon and 2.1 g per teaspoon, extrapolating to 112 g per US cup. FreeFoodTips independently reports 6.59 g per tablespoon (104 g/US cup). GramCups' measured home-baker reference lands at 100 g/cup (6.25 g/tbsp). Aqua-calc's USDA-branded entry for one specific commercial ground clove product (UPC 725677290058) reports 96 g per US cup at the light end. Chefs-Resources' professional kitchen chart classifies cloves as the densest common spice at 0.35 teaspoons per gram, which extrapolates to 137 g per US cup — representing fully-settled commercial jar density after shelf-life compaction. That is a 43% spread from lightest retail fill to settled pro-kitchen density, well above ExactCups' 10% milled tolerance and honestly published as a range.

The wide density range is physical. Ground cloves are 13% fat, 65% carbohydrate (mostly fibre and starch), 6% protein, and 10% water — but the fat figure understates the real oiliness. Dried cloves contain 15-20% essential oil by weight, one of the highest volatile oil contents of any commercial spice. This oil coats particle surfaces and causes them to stick together and settle heavily over time. A freshly-milled jar sits loose and light; the same jar after six months on a shelf compacts to noticeably higher weight per cup as the oil migrates and particles pack down. This is why the spread is real and not editorial: two bakers measuring "1 cup of ground cloves" at different points in the jar's life can legitimately end up with different weights.

For comparative context in the ExactCups milled category: ground cloves (96-137 g/cup) overlap ground nutmeg (112 g/cup, 36% fat) and ground allspice (96-116 g/cup, its eugenol cousin) at the central cluster, and reach higher when settled due to oil-driven compaction. Ground turmeric (144 g/cup, waxy curcumin-driven) sits just above cloves' upper bound. Ground ginger (80-104 g/cup, low fat, fibrous) is the lightest of the common baking spices; ground cinnamon spans the widest range (96-154 g/cup) due to the cassia-vs-Ceylon species split.

Whole cloves are strongly preferred for anything but immediate-use baking, because ground cloves lose their volatile eugenol 30-40% faster than any other common spice. Twelve to sixteen medium whole cloves yield approximately 1 teaspoon of freshly ground powder; one tablespoon of whole cloves grinds to approximately 1.6 teaspoons of ground (not 3 — grinding increases density and reduces volume by eliminating airspace between the buds). A whole clove weighs approximately 0.22 g.

Practical baker recommendation: use USDA's 7 g per tablespoon or 2.1 g per teaspoon for weighed baking. Expect 100-112 g per cup from freshly-milled loose fill and up to 137 g/cup from a well-settled six-month-old jar — the difference matters when cloves are the assertive spice (Christmas puddings, ham glazes, garam masala). Freshness test: rub a pinch between your fingers; a sharp warm-sweet numbing sensation on the skin means active eugenol, a faint or musty aroma means the powder is functionally spent regardless of scale reading.