Tart cherry concentrate

One US cup of tart cherry concentrate weighs 315.5 grams (11.1 ounces). Going the other way, 100 grams is about 0.32 cups.

Also called cherry concentrate, tart cherry juice concentrate, Montmorency cherry concentrate, sour cherry concentrate, cherry juice concentrate.

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

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

A cup of tart cherry concentrate weighs 315.5 g (11.1 oz), a density of 1.33 g/mL, from industry specifications for the standard 68 °Brix concentrate. King Arthur's 42 g per 2 tablespoons (336 g per cup) would need a syrup stronger than 80 °Brix and is rejected; it is a rounded ounce figure.

Tart cherry concentrate is juice pressed from Montmorency sour cherries, the pie cherry grown mostly in Michigan, with most of its water evaporated off. It is sold in small bottles as a drink base and supplement, diluted about 1 part to 5 or 7 parts water, and bakers use it straight, a few tablespoons at a time, to give cherry flavour and colour to cakes, frostings, glazes and fillings without adding fruit.

The industry standard is 68 °Brix, 68% dissolved solids. FruitSmart's specification for its red sour cherry concentrate gives 68.0 °Brix and a weight of 11.13 lb per gallon, 1.334 g/mL or 315.5 g per cup, and says that one part diluted with 5.15 parts water gives 14 °Brix juice. Parchem's specification for sour cherry concentrate at 68 °Brix gives a specific gravity of 1.335 to 1.354, 315 to 320 g per cup. Eden Foods describes its retail concentrate as tart cherries reduced to a syrup of 68 Brix.

The physical check: a sugar solution of 68 °Brix weighs 1.334 g/mL by the USDA sucrose table, exactly the FruitSmart figure, so the concentrate weighs what its sugar says it should. King Arthur's 1.420 g/mL is above the table's top row, 1.411 g/mL at 80 °Brix, which is thicker than honey. Two tablespoons at 68 °Brix weigh 39.5 g, 1.39 oz; King Arthur's 1 1/2 oz, converted back to grams, is 42 g. Its cherry cupcake recipe repeats the same heavy figure at 64 g for 3 tablespoons.

Not every retail bottle is full strength. Dynamic Health's label gives 2 tablespoons (30 mL) as 36 g with 17 g of sugars, about half sugar, which weighs 1.20 g/mL, 284 g per cup. Labels that state 2 tablespoons as 28 g, such as Cherry Bay Orchards' as transcribed by ReciPal, print the one-ounce serving and would make the syrup lighter than water.

Practical guidance: use 315.5 g per cup of 68 °Brix concentrate, about 20 g per tablespoon and 39.5 g per 2 tablespoons. To make tart cherry juice, mix 1 part concentrate with 5 to 7 parts water. For a weaker supplement concentrate, check the label's grams per serving and use those.

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

• King Arthur Baking Ingredient Weight Chart: 336 g per cup