Recipe calls for 1 cup cherries cut in half

Question

If a recipe says "1 cup of cherries cut in half" does that mean cut them before or after measurement?

Answer 1

Most recipes are rarely that precise (which is why a lot of us prefer recipes that give ingredients by weight). The "1 cup cherries" is most likely a rough estimate, so go with what seems right. Post-cutting will be about 50% more than whole.

Answer 2

The ingredient in the list is not entirely clear, but I would assume that from the exact wording that you typed that it was cherries cut in half to fill one cup.

The reason is the lack of a comma.

If it had said “1 cup of cherries, cut in half”, that would mean that you measure first and then do some additional prep to them before they’re used in the recipe.

To be clear, if they were to cut before being measured, I would have put “1 cup of halved cherries” hopefully they’re not such an integral part of the recipe that the ambiguity will cause it to fail completely.

Answer 3

It probably means one cup of already-cut half-cherries. However, it is as good as anybody's guess as to what the original author intended to convey. Fortunately, it doesn't really matter that much. Cooking recipes, unlike computer programs written in code, can work equally well with various interpretations of vague descriptions :)

I'd suggest that the best solution to find out what works the best for you is dividing the cake's ingredients in two equal halves, then simultaneously cooking both halves with the two differing interpretations for each half. After it's done, you will be able to directly judge what works better.