Comments on: little orange fruits weigh what?

Question: little orange fruits weigh what?

libraryhead — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 12:33:19 -0800

How much does a pint of kumquats weight?

That's about 500 mL by volume, but I understand non-USians prefer to weigh ingredients. Precision is of some importance here. (Yes, I have Googled to no avail. Short of actually going out and trying to *find* a pint of kumquats out of season, you're my only hope.)

By: libraryhead

libraryhead — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 12:34:19 -0800

how much do they *weigh,* of course. where's that edit feature?

By: borkencode

borkencode — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 12:42:14 -0800

Well, from this Kumquat Growers Inc page. 1/4 of a bushel is 10 lbs, which google says is 74 pints. So.. a pint weighs about 1/2 a pound.

By: tomatofruit

tomatofruit — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 12:42:24 -0800

I have neither access to kumquats nor a kitchen scale; however, I do have a package of mandarinquats sitting on my kitchen counter and slowly rotting because my in-laws thought they sounded interesting.

The package has holes in it, so I can't test its volume, but it looks like it would hold about a pint, maybe slightly less. It's labeled as weighing 10 oz (284g), so absurd extrapolation says that a pint of kumquats would weight 10-12 oz.

By: grobstein

grobstein — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 12:42:28 -0800

They are mostly water, so one strategy is to assume that they weigh the same as a pint (16oz.) of water, which is calibrated to weight 16oz. or 1lb. Probably they are somewhat less dense than water and so weigh a little less.

If they are not packed efficiently you should estimate the true volume and use that.

By: Lazlo Hollyfeld

Lazlo Hollyfeld — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 12:43:48 -0800

According to the Florida Kumquat Growers, a quarter bushel of kumquats weighs about 10 pounds. You should be able to figure it out from there.

By: Lazlo Hollyfeld

Lazlo Hollyfeld — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 12:44:17 -0800

Dammit borkencode. Beat me to it.

By: cabingirl

cabingirl — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 12:49:37 -0800

As another data point confirming the Kumquat Growers page, this recipe says that 2 quarts = 2 lbs, so a pint would weigh 1/2 lb.

By: Slarty Bartfast

Slarty Bartfast — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 12:53:37 -0800

9.455 ounces. You're welcome.

By: pentagoet

pentagoet — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 12:57:55 -0800

A pint's a pound, the world around.

By: libraryhead

libraryhead — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:01:13 -0800

I did find that kumquat growers' page, but was stumped at the bushel. Consensus says: 1 pint kumquats = 280 g. If your marmalade doesn't turn out, you can't say I didn't try.

By: We had a deal, Kyle

We had a deal, Kyle — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:24:27 -0800

A pint's a pound, the world around.

Not really.

By: bonehead

bonehead — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 14:25:45 -0800

Assuming spherical kumquats (how long have I waited to say that?), packing is the key to answering this, aside from being so gauche as to actually measure the weight.

Spheres can pack as densely as to fill 75% of the space, if they are packed carefully, but if jumbled, fill only 64%.

So, a pint (0.473L) of spherical kumquats, as dense as as water (roughly) would weight:

0.473 mL * 1.0 g/mL * 65% = 0.31 kg or 10.9 ounces.

Close enough for making jam.

By: brenton

brenton — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 15:35:32 -0800

A laden, or an unladen kumquat?