July-August 2011
Using Units in Recipes for Successful
Nutrition Analysis
For a successful nutrition analysis, NYC must be able to convert your recipe ingredient unit into grams. For this to happen, you must have already linked the ingredient to an item in the nutrition database, and NYC must be able to find an appropriate conversion factor. If you specify your unit in a mass unit (kg, oz, lb, etc), NYC will easily be able to convert it. Otherwise, NYC searches the following for an appropriate unit conversion factor:
1. the USDA nutrition item’s serving size list
2. NYC’s unit conversion list (found in Shopping… Conversions… - this list is customizable by you).
You get an Omission Error if after both these source NYC cannot find a conversion factor to convert your unit to grams.
Here is a step-by-step solution to a couple actual cases reported by users.
Problem 1:
I am having problems setting up the nutrition figures for
user-added ingredients. In my recipe, I
have eight small gingersnaps, and I have entered this into the recipe as:
qty unit ingredient preparation
" 8 each gingersnaps ground "
I went to the nutrition database, found "cookies, gingersnaps" and
linked it to the recipe ingredient. When
I tried the nutrition analysis, NYC told me it could not convert to grams, even
though I linked it and double-checked the link.
Solution:
The problem occurs because the recipe ingredient’s unit is “each”. The USDA database serving sizes are:
28.35 g = 1 oz
7 g = 1 cookie
32 g = 1 large (approx 3 1/2in to 4 in dia)
Thus, the user’s unit “each” is not a mass unit (e.g., kg, oz, lb, etc), it exists nowhere in the USDA database conversions nor in the user’s conversion list (Shopping… Conversions…). Therefore, NYC gives up and says it cannot be converted to g.
The best solution is to use a mass-qualified unit in the recipe ingredient, such as “each (4 oz)” instead of “each”.
Alternatively, use “cookie” or “large” instead of “each”. Any of these alternative units will produce a nutrition analysis.
Problem 2:
In recipes, adding “2 eggs” as an ingredient gives me the nutrition analysis error “cannot convert to grams" even though I have it linked to “egg,whl,raw,frsh”. Google Search says there is approx 60 grams per egg. Okay, if I enter “120 grams of eggs”, nutrition analysis works great. However, in menu planning we are going to resize to 6 meals. This means 12 eggs. Shopping list says I need to purchase 0.72 kg eggs.
In conversions:
for this ingredient: eggs
1 gram = 0.01666667 egg
The way I think is 720 grams times 0.0166667 = 12.000000024 eggs. I would like to see: please purchase 12 eggs,
or, 1.0 dozen eggs.
Solution:
The problem here is that no unit has been specified by the user – he just specifies “2 eggs” in the recipe ingredient. The “egg,whl,raw,frsh” nutrition item shows these serving sizes:
243 g = 1 cup (4.86 large eggs)
56 g = 1 extra large
63 g = 1 jumbo
50 g = 1 large
44 g = 1 medium
38 g = 1 small
The best solution is to use a "mass-qualified" unit “each (60 g)” a the unit for your recipe ingredient “eggs”.
qty unit description
2 each (60 g) egg
Then the nutrition analysis will work because it recognizes the grams in the "mass-qualified" unit, and resized menu plans will result in a shopping list with qty as # of eggs.
Alternatively, use a unit from the serving sizes for the nutrition item such as “jumbo” or “large” or “medium” instead of “each”. Any of these alternative units will produce a nutrition analysis with a readable shopping list.
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