[Vocabulary] meaning of "unpacked" in recipes

[KuaiLe]

Dear all,

I'm reading a cookbook. When the author talks about Sucanat sugar, she mentions that "I love to use Sucanat in gingerbread or chocolate recipes or anywhere I’d normally use traditional brown sugar. If you don’t have any Sucanat on hand, feel free to substitute unpacked organic brown sugar or coconut sugar in its place." When she talks about Coconut sugar, she also mentions that "You can substitute coconut sugar for Sucanat or unpacked organic light brown sugar in most recipes."

I'm confused about what "unpacked" means in this context. I searched with some related keywords and found that "packed" in recipes means "pressing it firmly into the measuring cup". (as specified here: http://www.thekitchn.com/baking-matters-what-is-packed-119443). So I suppose "unpacked" is just the other way round. But then I still don't understand, why would the author stress that the sugars can only be substituted by unpacked ones? Does "unpacked" simply mean that the sugars have not been pressed firmly into the measuring cup? Can anybody explain the idea for me?

 

[Raymott]

Yes, I'd say it's about the amount of sugar. If you're substituting the same amount of brown sugar, you need to know the density. 200 ml. of packed brown sugar is a lot more than 200 ml. of unpacked brown sugar.

Cross-posted.

 

[GoesStation]

You've got the right idea. American recipes usually specify quantities of bulk ingredients by volume, which leads to imprecise terms like what you found.