British (Imperial) Measures
Note that measurements in this section are in imperial units
Traditional British measures distinguish between weight and volume.
- Weight is measured in ounces and pounds (avoirdupois) as in the U.S.
- Volume is measured in Imperial gallons, quarts, pints, and fluid ounces. The Imperial gallon was originally defined as 10 pounds (4.5359 kg) of water in 1824, and refined as exactly 4.54609 litres in 1985. Older recipes may well give measurements in cups; insofar as a standard cup was used, it was usually 1⁄2 pint (or sometimes 1⁄3 pint ), but if the recipe is one that has been handed down in a family, it is just as likely to refer to someone's favourite kitchen cup as to that standard.
| Unit | Ounces | Pints | Millilitres | Cubic inches | US ounces | US pints |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| fluid ounce (fl oz) | 1 | 1⁄20 | 28.4130625 | 1.7339 | 0.96076 | 0.060047 |
| gill | 5 | 1⁄4 | 142.0653125 | 8.6694 | 4.8038 | 0.30024 |
| pint (pt) | 20 | 1 | 568.26125 | 34.677 | 19.215 | 1.2009 |
| quart (qt) | 40 | 2 | 1,136.5225 | 69.355 | 38.430 | 2.4019 |
| gallon (gal) | 160 | 8 | 4,546.09 | 277.42 | 153.72 | 9.6076 |
| Note: The millilitre figures are exact whereas the cubic-inch and US measure figures are to five significant digits. | ||||||
| Note 2: The Imperial Gallon is equal to 10 lbs of water. | ||||||
American cooks using British recipes, and vice versa, need to be careful with pints and fluid ounces. A US pint is 473 mL, while a UK pint is 568 mL, about 20% larger. A US fluid ounce is 1⁄16 of a US pint (29.6 mL); a UK fluid ounce is 1⁄20 UK pint (28.4 mL). This makes an Imperial pint equivalent to 19.2 US fluid ounces.
On a larger scale, perhaps for institutional cookery, an Imperial gallon is eight Imperial pints (160 imp fl oz, 4.546 litres) whereas the US gallon is eight US pints (128 US fl oz, 3.785 litres).
The metric system was officially adopted in the UK, for most purposes, in the 20th century and both are taught in schools and used in books. It is now mandatory for the sale of food. However, it is not uncommon to purchase goods which are measured and labeled in Metric, but the actual measure is rounded to the equivalent imperial measure (i.e., milk labeled as 568 mL / 1 pint). In September 2007, the EU announced it would allow the UK to continue for the foreseeable future to supply certain goods in the equivalent imperial quantities allowing the traditional delivery of pints of milk and the sale of pints of beer in UK pubs. The UK could continue to print non-metric measurements alongside metric ones on product labels. The previous deadline for the end of dual-labeling was 2010.
Read more about this topic: Cooking Weights And Measures
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