Box of Powdered Sugar - Weight or amount please?

[goboenomo]

Ahhh nooo.

Now I'm confused :P
I think I'll have to wing it.

I'm off to work, peace.

[Constance]

Originally Posted by Gretchen

3 3/4C sifted. Be SURE to sift, no matter how much you use, unless you are creaming it with butter with an electric mixer.

Gretchen, thank you for that information! I have several recipes that call for one box of powdered sugar, and my husband, who does the marketing, always buys the 2 lb. plastic bags.
And by the way, you are so right about the sifting. I have a microwave fudge "dump" recipe that makes delicious fudge, but if the sugar has any little lumps in it, it makes the fudge taste gritty.

[boufa06]

Originally Posted by Andy M.

250 gm is only equal to 250 ml when measuring water! One is a measure of volume and the other is a measure of weight.

A pound of anything is equal to 454 gms.

It is true that 250gm of water corresponds to 250ml of water. However, the same is true for any other substance that has a density equal to that of water. So the question boils down to comparing the density of water to that of powdered sugar. If powdered sugar has the same density as water, then 250gm of powdered sugar will measure 250ml in volume. If powdered sugar has a greater density than that of water, then 250gm of powdered sugar will measure less than 250ml in volume. Finally, if powdered sugar has a lesser density than that of water, 250gm powdered sugar will measure more than 250ml in volume.

While gm is a measure of weight and ml is a measure of volume, it is quite common and indeed practical to use either in order to describe the quantity of a substance. As far as cooking and recipes are concerned, volume units (eg. ml, cups, liquid oz) is the obvious choice for liquids. However, when it comes to powders (eg. sugar, flour etc) one can use either volume or weight units. Volume units are probably easier to measure by using standard measuring equipment such as measuring cups, a set of tablespoon, teaspoon and fraction etc. Therefore, one might wish to know how to translate volume units to weight units for a given substance. This can be done accurately only if one knows the density (bulk density for powders) of the substance in question.

In the case of powdered sugar, since Gobo wanted to know how many ml 250gm of sugar would measure, I thought of giving him a quick answer without having to resort to such lengthy explanations as I had to employ in this post. Not having any quick access to powdered sugar bulk density info, I assume that the bulk density of powdered sugar is not that much different than that of water. This is why I said that 250gm powdered sugar corresponds to 250ml. Now if anyone does know for sure the exact value of the bulk density of powdered sugar, let him/her do the calculation and come up with the exact answer. I don't think it will suffice to simply point out what is a measure of volume and what is a measure of weight without translating one into the other. After all, a certain amount of any given substance has a certain weight and occupies a certain volume. It is often useful if not necessary to know both.

[Constance]

You lost me, Boufa....But that's OK...I'm right-brained.

I still have to remember things like, "Lefty Loosie, Rightie Tightie."

[Andy M.]

boufa:

According to a package of powdered sugar I have in the cupboard, a cup of powdered sugar weighs 120 grams. Doing the math, a pound of this stuff would measure 3.75 cups. As a cup is roughly equal to 240 ml, 3.75 cups would equal 900 ml.

There has been significant controversary over using volume vs weight to measure dry ingredients such as flour or powdered sugar, as the method of filling the measuring cup can result in as much as a 25% variance in the measurement. Recognizing this, cooking professionals, serious amateurs and most of Europe uses weight rather than volume to measure dry ingredients.

[Dove]

My head is spinning...I'd use the whole box. LOL

[goboenomo]

The problem is, we dont have boxes here.
I get mine in bags.

[Andy M.]

If the recipe calls for 3/4 to full box, and a box weighs a pound, use 3/4 to a pound of sugar. If the recipe is from the US, this should be just fine. Boxes of powdered sugar from other countries may contain different amounts.

[goboenomo]

It's american, im pretty sure.
I don't have any mass measuring tools.
So how can i convert?

[Andy M.]

Reading back through this thread, I see a couple of posts that tell you how may cups in a pound of powdered sugar. Do you have a measuring cup?