Pomegranate juice

One US cup of pomegranate juice weighs 249 grams (8.8 ounces). Going the other way, 100 grams is about 0.40 cups.

Also called 100% pomegranate juice, POM juice, bottled pomegranate juice, pomegranate juice not from concentrate.

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

A cup of pomegranate juice weighs 249 g (8.8 oz), a density of 1.05 g/mL. USDA weighs a bottled cup at 249 g, and measurements of 18 industrial pomegranate juices found 1.06 g/mL, 251 g per cup, within 1%. Health Canada's 128 g per 125 mL is too light for a juice this sweet and is rejected.

Pomegranate juice is pressed from the seeds, or arils, of the pomegranate, sometimes with part of the peel, and sold as 100% juice, either not from concentrate, like POM Wonderful, or reconstituted. It is dark red, tart and sweet, and in cooking it goes into marinades, dressings, glazes and drinks; boiled down further it becomes pomegranate molasses, a thick syrup that weighs far more per cup.

USDA's Standard Reference record for bottled pomegranate juice (FDC 167787) gives 1 cup as 249 g, with 86% water and 12.7% sugars. Vegara and colleagues, setting quality guidelines for Spanish Mollar pomegranate juice, measured 18 not-from-concentrate juices made at industrial scale and found relative densities of 1.061 to 1.064, at 15.15 to 15.71 °Brix, about 251 g per cup. The two agree within the 5% tolerance this site allows for liquids, and USDA's figure is published.

Health Canada's Nutrient Value of Some Common Foods weighs 125 mL of ready-to-drink pomegranate juice at 128 g, 1.024 g/mL, 242 g per cup. That is the density of a juice carrying about 6% sugar, less than half of what pomegranate juice holds. The FDA sets the minimum strength of 100% pomegranate juice from concentrate at 16.0 °Brix, 1.062 g/mL, the same as Vegara's measured juices. The same Health Canada table agrees with USDA for grape, pineapple and prune juice, so this row is rejected on its own.

The physical check: a juice weighs what its dissolved solids make it weigh, and at 15 to 16 °Brix that is 1.06 g/mL by the USDA sucrose table. USDA's 1.052 g/mL is 1% under, consistent with its slightly lower 12.7% sugar plus acids; the rejected 1.024 is 4% under. Among juices on this site pomegranate sits with apple (248 g) and pineapple (250 g), below grape (253 g) and prune (256 g).

Practical guidance: use 249 g per cup, 125 g per half cup, 62 g per quarter cup and 15.6 g per tablespoon. A 16 fl oz bottle holds 2 cups, about 498 g. For pomegranate molasses, use its own entry; it is not juice.

The following published figures for pomegranate juice are rejected here, with the physics or standards reasoning behind each rejection on its own page:

• Health Canada, Nutrient Value of Some Common Foods (2008), Table 5: 242 g per cup