Should Shredded Cheese Be Measured by Volume or in Grams?

Recipes often list shredded cheese by the cup, making the measurement uncertain from the start. A grater produces strands, not uniform pieces, and their length depends on the size of the grater holes. Short strands from fine holes pack tightly into a cup and leave little space between them. Long strands from coarse holes catch on one another, lie crosswise, and leave much of the cup filled with air. That is why the same cup measure holds two different weights with the two grater sizes. The result changes with the grater even when the cheese, cup, and person are the same.

In the reference measurements, one 200 ml measure of shredded cheese weighs 115 grams, and one tablespoon weighs 8 grams. These figures are a starting point and assume a particular grater size; the chart does not specify which hole size was used. The number is not wrong, but it is not the only correct value either. For comparison, if the same glass of water weighs 200 grams, more than half of the glass holding the cheese is air; that helps explain why the uncertainty is so large.

Cheese type also affects the result. Semi-hard cheeses such as kashar cheese produce neat strands on the grater and behave predictably. Fresh, soft cheeses are crushed into clumps on the grater; they leave no gaps in a cup, but pack down and weigh more. Very hard, dry cheeses come out almost as powder and pack most tightly into a cup. If the recipe does not specify the cheese type, the cup measurement has one more source of uncertainty. Ready-shredded cheese contains starch to keep the shreds from sticking together, and that also changes its volume somewhat.

Temperature also plays a part, and this often goes unnoticed. Cold cheese is firm because it has just come out of the refrigerator, so it produces clean strands on the grater. The same cheese softens at room temperature, gets crushed in the grater holes, and clumps together. The same cheese, grated with the same grater, can produce two different volumes on two different days. In a recipe measured by the cup, this creates one more source of weight variation. That is why the cheese should be taken out of the refrigerator just before grating.

The practical takeaway is simple. Weigh the cheese; if you do not have a scale, weigh the recipe’s cup measure one time and write the weight on the side, then use that value from then on. If you must use a cup, fill it loosely without pressing the cheese down and use the same grater every time; consistency matters more than accuracy, because once the recipe has been calibrated one time, the same method gives the same result. Anyone writing their own recipe should give the amount in grams and skip the cup-measure debate. A recipe that specifies grams gives the same amount regardless of which grater is used.