To convert cups of ground cumin into grams, multiply by 101: one cup comes to 101 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 cumin comes in at 0.4269 g per mL, or 42.69% of water, which is why a cup of it is 101 g rather than 236.6 g. Volume and weight only line up for water, and only in metric.
A cup of ground cumin is 101 g when it is measured the standard way, but how it gets into the cup changes the answer: between about 90.9 g and 121.2 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 0.99% of a cup of ground cumin, so weighing gets an accuracy no measuring cup can reach. A 500 g pack of it is 4.95 cups, and a 1 kg pack 9.901.
What the number depends on: One of the lighter ground spices. Whole seeds measure quite differently, so a recipe that says ground means ground.
The formula
cups- The amount of ground cumin you are converting, in cups
101- Grams per cup for ground cumin, from its density of 0.4269 g/mL
grams- The equivalent quantity in grams
How it works, step by step
- Enter the quantity in cups.
- It is multiplied by 101, the grams-per-cup figure for ground cumin.
- 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 cumin in grams
A recipe calling for 1/3 cup of ground cumin needs 33.6667 grams on the scale. The arithmetic is 0.333333 × 101 = 33.666667, and halving the recipe halves the weight to 16.8333 grams.
3/4 cup of ground cumin in grams
Take 3/4 cup of ground cumin: 0.75 × 101 gives 75.75 grams. Doubling the batch takes it to 151.5 grams, because the relationship is a straight proportion once the density is known.
3 cup of ground cumin in grams
A recipe calling for 3 cup of ground cumin needs 303 grams on the scale. The arithmetic is 3 × 101 = 303, and halving the recipe halves the weight to 151.5 grams.
How to read your score
Frequently asked questions
How many grams are in 1 cup of ground cumin?
One cup of ground cumin is 101 grams. Half that quantity is 50.5 grams and double it is 202 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 cumin not 236 g like water?
Because weight per cup depends on what is in the cup. Ground cumin has a density of 0.4269 g per mL where water has 1.00, so a cup of it weighs 101 g rather than 236.6 g. That is a difference of 135.6 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 cumin by roughly 20% — about 10.1 g either side of 101 g — because one of the lighter ground spices. Weighing removes the question entirely.
Is a fluid ounce of ground cumin 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 cumin weighs 0.4453 oz, so the two readings differ by 55.5%. 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 cumin would weigh 106.73 g instead of 101 g — 5.73 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 cumin — roughly 20.2 g on a 101 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 cumin is 500 g?
500 g of ground cumin is 4.9505 cups — 0.00990099 cups to one gram, so 500 × 0.00990099 = 4.9505. Going that way is a division by 101, or a multiplication by 0.00990099 if you prefer.
Ground cumin in cups and grams
| Cups | Grams | Unrounded |
|---|---|---|
| 1/8 cup | 12.625 g | 12.625 |
| 1/4 cup | 25.25 g | 25.25 |
| 1/3 cup | 33.6667 g | 33.66666667 |
| 1/2 cup | 50.5 g | 50.5 |
| 2/3 cup | 67.3333 g | 67.33333333 |
| 3/4 cup | 75.75 g | 75.75 |
| 1 cup | 101 g | 101 |
| 1 1/2 cup | 151.5 g | 151.5 |
| 2 cup | 202 g | 202 |
| 3 cup | 303 g | 303 |
| 4 cup | 404 g | 404 |
Based on 101 g per cup of ground cumin. One cup of ground cumin is 101 grams.
| Measure | Grams | Ounces | Millilitres |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 cup | 101 g | 3.56 oz | 236.6 mL |
| 1 tbsp | 6.312 g | 0.223 oz | 14.79 mL |
| 2 tsp | 4.208 g | 0.148 oz | 9.858 mL |
| 1 tsp | 2.104 g | 0.0742 oz | 4.929 mL |
| 3/4 tsp | 1.578 g | 0.0557 oz | 3.697 mL |
| 1/2 tsp | 1.052 g | 0.0371 oz | 2.464 mL |
| 1/4 tsp | 0.526 g | 0.0186 oz | 1.232 mL |
| 1/8 tsp | 0.263 g | 0.00928 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 | 96 g | 3.386 oz | 0.4058 |
| Ground cumin (this page) | 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.