Maple sugar

One US cup of maple sugar weighs between 144 and 156 grams (5.1 to 5.5 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.

Sugars compared: cup weights side by side, the source behind each, and why they differ.

TL;DR: 144-156 g/cup (0.61-0.66 g/mL). Retail producer data clusters tightly at 144 g/cup (Coombs USDA branded entry, multi-brand aggregate); King Arthur lists 156, about 8% higher. The spread is real particle-size variance rather than a data error — maple sugar crystal size varies more than cane sugar because the crystallization is uncontrolled during syrup evaporation.

Maple sugar is pure maple syrup boiled past the sugar-crystallization point (roughly 262°F / 128°C) and stirred vigorously as it cools, producing a granulated single-ingredient sweetener that is roughly 89% sucrose and 11% invert sugars (glucose and fructose from the natural inversion during boiling) plus trace minerals. Before cane sugar became cheap in the late 1800s, maple sugar was the standard sweetener in New England pantries; today it sits in the premium specialty-sugar tier at roughly 10 to 30 times the price of granulated cane sugar per pound.

Density data converges at two clusters. The retail producer figures center on 144 g/cup: the USDA branded entry for Coombs Family Farms Organic Pure Maple Sugar (UPC 710282930062) gives 152 g/metric cup, or 144 g per US cup at 0.61 g/mL. A cross-brand aggregate covering Butternut Mountain Farm, Coombs, Highland Sugarworks, Metro Brands, Mount Mansfield Maple Products, and Maple Joe all list 1 tablespoon = 9 g, which extrapolates to the same 144 g/cup. King Arthur's Ingredient Weight Chart sits at 156 g/cup (1/2 cup = 2 3/4 oz = 78 g), about 8% higher. Physically the difference reflects crystal size: coarse crystals leave more air gaps per scoop and read lighter, while finer grinds pack down denser. Two producer references (Miss Vickie's Sugar Converter and Cuisine l'Angélique) both note explicitly that maple sugar density varies with particle size and recommend weighing rather than measuring by volume.

Adjacent to the main product is a fine-grind "maple sugar powder" family (The Spice Lab Maple Sugar Powder, some retail UPC entries that show up on aqua-calc at 65-80 g/cup). These are ground down further, behave like confectioners' sugar in the mouth and on the scoop, and are not what a recipe means when it calls for "maple sugar" unqualified. They are noted here but excluded from the published range since they represent a distinctly different product form.

Within the maple family, maple sugar completes the four-product set alongside maple syrup (312 g/cup, ~66% solids), maple cream (320 g/cup, aerated soft-solid at ~85% solids), and dry granulated maple sugar (144-156 g/cup, ~100% solids by weight with air gaps between crystals). All four are produced from the same evaporated sap, differentiated only by how far the boiling was carried and whether the result was stirred to crystallize. Recipe substitution guidance from Coombs Family Farms recommends 1/2 to 3/4 cup maple sugar to replace 1 cup cane sugar — the lower ratio reflects both maple's slightly higher perceived sweetness (from the invert sugars and minerals) and the caramelization the maple flavor brings to the finished bake. For pancake batter, cookies, and shortbread where maple flavor is the point, the substitution is direct 1:1 by weight; where sweetness is the main function and maple flavor is incidental, the 3/4-cup ratio prevents the finished product from reading too sweet. For any recipe where the precise sugar quantity affects texture — meringues, caramels, tempered chocolate work — weigh the specific product in hand rather than measuring by volume, since even brand-to-brand the cup weight moves by 8% or more.