The Easiest Way To Measure A Pound Of Raspberries Without A Scale
It's raspberry season! While these sweet, tart little packages of flavor are delicious on their own, there are so many times when you'll want to cook or bake with raspberries. There is raspberry pie to bake and raspberry swirl cheesecake to make! You can even cool down with a spiked pink lemonade made with raspberries.
When it comes to cooking or baking with raspberries, there can be a looming question regarding how many containers you should buy. According to How Much Is In, it's not as simple as a recipe calling for one small package or one large package of the tart berries. And, of course, frozen raspberries are packaged differently. Berry-centric recipes can have differing measurements as well, per How Much Is In. Sometimes they'll measure raspberries by volume (cups), other times by weight (ounces). So, it can be helpful to know what a pound of raspberries actually looks like — that way, you'll know how many bags, baskets, or cartons to buy at your local farmers market or grocery store.
Give raspberries a hand
According to The Kitchn, a good rule of thumb to determine measurements is that one pound of raspberries is about four good sized handfuls of the fruit. That's with one hand, not both! If you don't have a food measuring scale at home, and you frequently eat and bake with raspberries, this is useful knowledge to have.
If you want to estimate a pound using cartons or clamshell containers of raspberries, How Much Is In has done some measuring for you. They estimate that an actual pound of raspberries is about four cups, or 135 average size raspberries. This many berries can be found in a one-quart container as well as a one-pound container. A one-pint container holds about half the volume of a one-quart container.
If you'e looking at a raspberry pie recipe that calls for five cups of raspberries, this is a bit more than a pound. You can guesstimate five good handfuls, or you can purchase a one-quart container and then three pint-containers to divvy up the berries. When it doubt, buy more than you think you'll need. A good cook always snacks in the kitchen!