Guava paste
One US cup of guava paste weighs 320 grams (11.3 ounces). Going the other way, 100 grams is about 0.31 cups.
Also called pasta de guayaba, guava cheese, goiabada, dulce de guayaba, bocadillo, guava bar.
Most sites print a number for a cup of guava paste and do not say where it came from. This page publishes 320 g (11.3 oz), names Conchita Guava Paste (USDA Global Branded Foods), Iberia Guava Paste, 14 oz (producer label), Goya Guava Paste, 8 oz (producer label), TACO, Tabela Brasileira de Composição de Alimentos (doce de goiaba em pasta), Alves et al., Instituto Federal Baiano (goiabada, three brands) and USDA AMS Sucrose Conversion Table (Appendix XV), and records the source that was checked against an independent standard and rejected.
| Volume | Grams | Ounces |
|---|---|---|
| 1 cup | 320 g | 11.3 oz |
| 3/4 cup | 240 g | 8.5 oz |
| 2/3 cup | 213.3 g | 7.5 oz |
| 1/2 cup | 160 g | 5.6 oz |
| 1/3 cup | 106.7 g | 3.8 oz |
| 1/4 cup | 80 g | 2.8 oz |
| 1 tablespoon | 20 g | 0.71 oz |
| 1 teaspoon | 6.7 g | 0.24 oz |
Guava paste ounces to grams and cups
| Weight | Grams | US cups |
|---|---|---|
| 1 oz | 28.3 g | 0.09 |
| 4 oz | 113.4 g | 0.35 |
| 8 oz | 226.8 g | 0.71 |
| 16 oz (1 lb) | 453.6 g | 1.42 |
Where this number comes from
A cup of guava paste, pressed level, weighs about 320 g (11.3 oz). Conchita's and Iberia's labels both weigh a tablespoon at 20 g, and that is where guava paste's sugar content puts it. King Arthur Baking's 100 g per quarter cup (400 g a cup) is too heavy to be possible.
Guava paste is guava pulp cooked down with sugar until it sets firm, with pectin and a little citric acid. It is sold as a sliceable block or in tins, as pasta de guayaba in Latin American and Caribbean shops and as goiabada in Brazil, and it fills pastelitos, guava and cream cheese pastries, empanadas and bars, or is served in slices with cheese.
Three producer labels give a weight for a tablespoon, the serving US rules set for fruit pastes. Conchita's (as recorded in USDA's branded foods data) and Iberia's both say 20 g, 320 g a cup; Iberia's 20 servings of its 14 oz block come to 19.8 g each. Goya's 8 oz package says 19 g, 304 g a cup. Labels round to whole grams, so 19 g and 20 g are one measurement within rounding, and this site publishes the 20 g figure that two brands share.
Goya's 16 oz block says "1 Tbsp (30g)". That is 480 g a cup, 2.03 g/mL, heavier than solid sugar. Fifteen 30 g servings make up the 16 oz block, so the figure is a slice of the block labelled as a tablespoon. It is rejected.
King Arthur Baking's chart gives guava paste as 1/4 cup = 100 g, 400 g a cup and 1.69 g/mL. That too is denser than sugar crystals, which weigh 1.59 g/mL. The physical check shows why it cannot be right. Brazil's food composition table gives guava paste 24.8 g of water per 100 g, and a study of three Brazilian brands measured 70 to 73% dissolved solids. A sugar solution of that strength weighs 1.35 to 1.38 g/mL by USDA's sucrose tables, 318 to 326 g a cup. Guava paste carries a little fruit fibre and pectin besides, but nothing can make it a quarter heavier than its own syrup. The 20 g labels land at 1.35 g/mL, inside that span.
How you measure matters more for guava paste than for most ingredients, because it is a solid. A cup of cubes or slices leaves gaps between them and weighs less than 320 g, perhaps much less. The figure here is for paste pressed level into the measure, as a label's tablespoon is.
Practical guidance: weigh guava paste whenever you can. Use 320 g per cup pressed level, 80 g per quarter cup and 20 g per tablespoon. An 8 oz (227 g) bar is about 3/4 cup, a 14 oz block about 1 1/4 cups, and a pound about 1 1/2 cups. When a recipe asks for "a cup of cubed guava paste", it probably means less paste than a pressed cup; weighing out 250 to 300 g is a reasonable reading. For a smooth filling, warm the paste with a spoonful of water and stir before you measure.
Sources
Firm paste, pressed level into the measure
- Conchita Guava Paste (USDA Global Branded Foods)320 g per cup11.3 ozBranded record of the producer label, UPC 075370001049: "per 1 tbsp (20.0 g)" (nutritionvalue.org, data from USDA Branded Foods). 320 g per US cup (density 1.3526 g/mL).
- Iberia Guava Paste, 14 oz (producer label)320 g per cup11.3 ozTarget listing: "Amount 1 tbsp (20g)", "Serving Per Container: 20", net weight 14 ounces (397 g, 19.8 g a serving), ingredients "guava pulp, sugar cane and citric acid acidulant". 320 g per cup.
- Goya Guava Paste, 8 oz (producer label)ShopRite listing: "Per recommended serving 1 Tbsp. (19g)", ingredients guava pulp, sugar, corn syrup, pectin, citric acid. 19 g a tablespoon is 304 g a cup. Labels round to whole grams, so 19 g and 20 g are the same measurement within half a gram either way; kept without a figure so that the published value rests on the two 20 g labels.
- Goya Guava Paste, 16 oz (producer label)480 g per cup16.9 ozKroger listing: "1 Tbsp (30g)", "15.0 Servings Per Container", 16 oz, ingredients "Sugar, Guava Pulp, Citric Acid, Pectin, Red 40." 480 g per cup (density 2.0289 g/mL).Rejected. Heavier than solid sugar. A crystal of sucrose weighs 1.59 g/mL, and a paste that is about a quarter water cannot weigh 2.03 g/mL. Fifteen servings of 30 g are the whole 16 oz block, so the 30 g is a slice cut from the block labelled as a tablespoon. Goya's own 8 oz paste gives 19 g for the same tablespoon.
- King Arthur Baking Ingredient Weight Chart400 g per cup14.1 ozLists "Guava paste" at 1/4 cup = 3 1/2 oz = 100 g, 400 g per cup (density 1.6907 g/mL).Rejected. Denser than sucrose crystals themselves, 1.59 g/mL. Guava paste is about 75% sugar and fruit solids and 25% water (TACO: 24.8 g water per 100 g; three Brazilian brands measured at 70 to 73 °Brix). A sugar solution that strong weighs 1.35 to 1.38 g/mL by USDA's sucrose tables, 318 to 326 g a cup. A quarter cup can hold 100 g only if the paste is packed tighter than solid sugar, which is impossible. The two 20 g tablespoon labels, 320 g a cup, sit where the composition puts them.
- TACO, Tabela Brasileira de Composição de Alimentos (doce de goiaba em pasta)Brazil's national food composition table, via Solufition: "Água" 24.8 g, "Carboidrato" 74.1 g and 269 kcal per 100 g of guava paste.
- Alves et al., Instituto Federal Baiano (goiabada, three brands)Measured soluble solids of three commercial goiabadas at 70.00, 73.33 and 71.00 °Brix, and moisture of 31.73, 26.13 and 29.79%, against a 65% minimum for firm guava paste.
- USDA AMS Sucrose Conversion Table (Appendix XV)Apparent specific gravity at 20/20 °C: 65 °Brix "1.31905", 70 °Brix "1.34997", 75 °Brix "1.38187". A sugar solution of guava paste's strength weighs 311 to 326 g per US cup.
Corrections on this ingredient
The following published figures for guava paste are rejected here, with the physics or standards reasoning behind each rejection on its own page:
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