To convert cups of ground cardamom into grams, multiply by 96: one cup comes to 96 grams. Every ingredient has its own figure here, because the units are measuring different things and only the density links them.
Water is the yardstick: 1 mL of it weighs 1 g. Ground cardamom comes in at 0.40577 g per mL, or 40.58% of water, which is why a cup of it is 96 g rather than 236.6 g. Volume and weight only line up for water, and only in metric.
A cup of ground cardamom is 96 g when it is measured the standard way, but how it gets into the cup changes the answer: between about 86.4 g and 115.2 g covers the range from lightly spooned to firmly packed. That 20% spread is larger than most of the adjustments recipes fuss over, and it disappears entirely the moment the ingredient is weighed instead.
Grams are the unit this conversion is really for. A domestic scale resolves to a gram, which is 1.04% of a cup of ground cardamom, so weighing gets an accuracy no measuring cup can reach. A 500 g pack of it is 5.208 cups, and a 1 kg pack 10.42.
The condition this weight assumes: Expensive enough that the difference between a level and a heaped spoon is worth being deliberate about.
The formula
cups- The amount of ground cardamom you are converting, in cups
96- Grams per cup for ground cardamom, from its density of 0.40577 g/mL
grams- The equivalent quantity in grams
How it works, step by step
- Enter the quantity in cups.
- It is multiplied by 96, the grams-per-cup figure for ground cardamom.
- The result appears in grams, with a second reading in oz beneath it.
- Use the measure table if you want a standard recipe quantity rather than a number you type in.
Worked examples
1/3 cup of ground cardamom in grams
Take 1/3 cup of ground cardamom: 0.333333 × 96 gives 32 grams. Doubling the batch takes it to 64 grams, because the relationship is a straight proportion once the density is known.
3/4 cup of ground cardamom in grams
3/4 cup of ground cardamom weighs out at 72 grams. Divide 72 by 96 and you get back to 3/4 cup, which is the quickest check that the factor is the right way up.
3 cup of ground cardamom in grams
A recipe calling for 3 cup of ground cardamom needs 288 grams on the scale. The arithmetic is 3 × 96 = 288, and halving the recipe halves the weight to 144 grams.
How to read your score
Frequently asked questions
How many grams are in 1 cup of ground cardamom?
One cup of ground cardamom is 96 grams. Half that quantity is 48 grams and double it is 192 grams, so the figure scales straight up and down — there is no offset in this conversion, only the factor.
Why is a cup of ground cardamom not 236 g like water?
Because weight per cup depends on what is in the cup. Ground cardamom has a density of 0.40577 g per mL where water has 1.00, so a cup of it weighs 96 g rather than 236.6 g. That is a difference of 140.6 g per cup, and it is the reason a single volume-to-weight factor cannot be applied to every ingredient.
Does how I measure it change the weight?
Yes, and by more than most people expect. Handling changes the weight of a cup of ground cardamom by roughly 20% — about 9.6 g either side of 96 g — because expensive enough that the difference between a level and a heaped spoon is worth being deliberate about. Weighing removes the question entirely.
Is a fluid ounce of ground cardamom the same as an ounce?
No. A fluid ounce is a volume — one eighth of a US cup, 29.57 mL — and an ounce is a weight. One fluid ounce of ground cardamom weighs 0.4233 oz, so the two readings differ by 57.7%. They coincide only for something with the density of water, and then only roughly.
Is this a US cup or a metric cup?
US customary: 236.59 mL, which is the cup every US recipe means. A metric cup is 250 mL, so the same cup of ground cardamom would weigh 101.44 g instead of 96 g — 5.44 g more, or 5.67%. Australian and some European recipes use the metric cup, and the difference is large enough to matter in baking.
Do I need a scale for this, or will measuring cups do?
A scale, if the result matters. Volume measuring carries a spread of about 20% for ground cardamom — roughly 19.2 g on a 96 g cup — while a domestic scale is accurate to a gram or two. For anything where the ratio of ingredients drives the outcome, bread and pastry above all, weigh it.
How many cups of ground cardamom is 500 g?
500 g of ground cardamom is 5.2083 cups — 0.0104167 cups to one gram, so 500 × 0.0104167 = 5.2083. Going that way is a division by 96, or a multiplication by 0.0104167 if you prefer.
Ground cardamom in cups and grams
| Cups | Grams | Unrounded |
|---|---|---|
| 1/8 cup | 12 g | 12 |
| 1/4 cup | 24 g | 24 |
| 1/3 cup | 32 g | 32 |
| 1/2 cup | 48 g | 48 |
| 2/3 cup | 64 g | 64 |
| 3/4 cup | 72 g | 72 |
| 1 cup | 96 g | 96 |
| 1 1/2 cup | 144 g | 144 |
| 2 cup | 192 g | 192 |
| 3 cup | 288 g | 288 |
| 4 cup | 384 g | 384 |
Based on 96 g per cup of ground cardamom. One cup of ground cardamom is 96 grams.
| Measure | Grams | Ounces | Millilitres |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 cup | 96 g | 3.39 oz | 236.6 mL |
| 1 tbsp | 6 g | 0.212 oz | 14.79 mL |
| 2 tsp | 4 g | 0.141 oz | 9.858 mL |
| 1 tsp | 2 g | 0.0705 oz | 4.929 mL |
| 3/4 tsp | 1.5 g | 0.0529 oz | 3.697 mL |
| 1/2 tsp | 1 g | 0.0353 oz | 2.464 mL |
| 1/4 tsp | 0.5 g | 0.0176 oz | 1.232 mL |
| 1/8 tsp | 0.25 g | 0.00882 oz | 0.6161 mL |
US customary measures: 1 cup = 236.59 mL, 1 tbsp = 14.79 mL, 1 tsp = 4.93 mL.
| Ingredient | Grams per cup | Ounces per cup | Density (g/mL) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dried oregano | 48 g | 1.693 oz | 0.2029 |
| Ground ginger | 86 g | 3.034 oz | 0.3635 |
| Ground cardamom (this page) | 96 g | 3.386 oz | 0.4058 |
| Ground cumin | 101 g | 3.563 oz | 0.4269 |
| Ground cloves | 101 g | 3.563 oz | 0.4269 |
| Ground nutmeg | 106 g | 3.739 oz | 0.448 |
| Ground black pepper | 110 g | 3.88 oz | 0.4649 |
Ordered by weight. The spread across this group is why a single generic cups-to-grams factor cannot work.