Burning question re: can sizes

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Jovin

Senior Cook
Joined
Dec 17, 2003
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334
Location
Niagara Falls, Ontario
I'm so confused about this. I know there are ounces in weight and ounces in liquid form, but when a recipe calls for two 8 oz cans of tomato sauce, and I'm in Canada so we only have mls on the cans, are they saying that the cans have 8 liquid ounces in them or are they going by weight? How do I get the proper equivalent from my 680 ml can of tomato sauce. I want to do this recipe exactly, as I don't have the best record for messing with them.

Thanks for any input.
 
I'm not totally positive, but I believe the measurement is for weight. If a volumetric measurement is used, it will be labeled as Fl. Oz., or fluid ounce. So your 680 ml can is a volume measurement, and must be converted to the English system equivalent, i,e, 22.99 fl oz. 1 ml = 0.033814 fl oz. So to convert, multiply the number of ml by .033814 to get your English equivalent.

Hope this helps.

Seeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North
 
ain't cooking grand...!


in the USA, it's "can" ounces by weight comma comma comma
because V8 Juice, sold in cans, is marked fluid ounces....
and people writing recipes get very very sloppy about ounces by weight or ounces by volumes.



to convert between weight and volume, one needs the "density"

usually entering (something like)

"weight of one cup tomato sauce"
in the browser search will bring up multiple sites that 'solve' that issue.


but, one has to be a bit careful because
howmany.wiki
coolconversion.com
both say 225 grams per cup=8 fluid ounces=236.6ml


but in the nutrition block of an actual can, is given:
Serving Size 1/4 cup(61g)
which could make one think 1 cup = 61*4 = 244 g
which is ~10% error....
 
If the can label gives the contents in milliliters, that's volume, not weight. 680 ml is equal to 23 fluid ounces. Which is just short of 3 cups US.
 
If the can label gives the contents in milliliters, that's volume, not weight. 680 ml is equal to 23 fluid ounces. Which is just short of 3 cups US.

But, the OP doesn't know if the 8 ounce cans called for in the recipe are 8 fluid ounces or 8 avoirdupois ounces. So, knowing the volume of their can in fluid ounces might not be the right answer. Since, the 8 ounce cans sold in the US don't say "fluid ounces", it is apparently likely that they are avoirdupois ounces.

Is 23 fluid ounces a standard US size of can? Because if it is, that would explain the 680 ml size of the Canadian can. Most of the time when our container sizes are some oddball number in metric, it's because it matches some not oddball size of US container.
 
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But, the OP doesn't know if the 8 ounce cans called for in the recipe are 8 fluid ounces or 8 avoirdupois ounces. So, knowing the volume of their can in fluid ounces might not be the right answer. Since, the 8 ounce cans sold in the US don't say "fluid ounces", it is apparently likely that they are avoirdupois ounces.

Is 23 fluid ounces a standard US size of can? Because if it is, that would explain the 680 ml size of the Canadian can. Most of the time when our container sizes are some oddball number in metric, it's because it matches some not oddball size of US container.

I believe the 680 ml was for two cans. There is no universal conversion rate for Fl. Oz. to Avoirdupois Oz. Depends on what's being measured. So his direct question cannot be simply answered.
 
Does anyone happen to have an empty US tomato can? If that person measured the volume of the can and told us that volume and what the can said the number of ounces was, we could figure out the conversion of tomato can ounces to millilitres.
 
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In addition to the 8-oz. size, standard can sizes in the United States are 14.5 oz and 28 oz. According to Google, 14.5 ounces = 428.816 ml. The volume is just under two cups/1 pint.
20220312_145359~2.jpg
 
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that can says 14.5 ounces (411g)
it is in weight, not cups, not ml.


no wonder our Canadian friends get so confused, not even Americans can tell....
 
that can says 14.5 ounces (411g)
it is in weight, not cups, not ml.


no wonder our Canadian friends get so confused, not even Americans can tell....

Yup.

If it was just a question of converting fluid ounces to ml, I think most of us would be able to figure it out.

I did a bit of searching and most of the sites I found seem to get confused too.
 
Cans in the U.S. and Canada are the same size and contain the same amount of whatever is in the can. The only difference is the quantity measurement listed on the label, so an 8oz (fluid) can would contain the same amount as a 236ml (fluid) can. The same with weight. A nt wt 15oz can would be 425 grams. In the U.S. the containers have both ounce and ml/gram measurements, just like containers have labels in French and English in Canada.
 
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that can says 14.5 ounces (411g)
it is in weight, not cups, not ml.

no wonder our Canadian friends get so confused, not even Americans can tell....
If I were to open the can and pour the contents into my two-cup measuring cup, the 14.5 ounces would almost fill up the 16-ounce cup. That's close enough to answer this particular question, imo.
 
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