The only way to tell if the millilitre markings are correct or in error is to obtain an accurate laboratory measuring cup and fill it to the 250 mL mark and then pour it into your cup. If the 250 mL of one equals the other, then it is the cup markings that are off.
This cup may have been made in China and the Chinese don't know about cups and use the 250 mL as the base and rounded the 1/3 and 1/4 of 250 mL to the nearest rounded number for ease of use. There is no more then 3 mL difference between a 1/3 cup at 80 mL and 83 mL or a quarter cup at 60 mL and 62.5 mL. I'm sure people have worked with these cups have experienced no problems with the differences. The only way to get around this issue of cups is to go strictly to mass measure. There is a reason that the greatest chefs in the world use mass in their recipes and not cups. Maybe that is why their food tastes that little bit better. Euric ----- Original Message ----- From: "Gavin Young" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, 2004-02-20 21:55 Subject: [USMA:28828] Re: Kitchen measuring cups > Years ago I bought some measuring cups and I made sure they had both units. My > cup also say: > > 1/4 cup 60 ml > 1/3 cup 80 ml > 1/2 cup 125 ml > 1 cup 250 ml > > Until today I did not realize that those cups had an error in the metric units. > The "1 cup" cup also has 1/4, 1/2, and 3/4 cup markings on the side, but no ml > markings. I wish all of those cups had accurate ml markings, however nearly all > of the recipes I own are exclusively in US Customary Units. The directions on > food packages (such as bags of flour) are also in US Customary Units.
