In the “Medibles” world—accuracy is very important. You need every piece of brownie or chocolate to be the same size and weight – as well having consistent amounts of active medicine inside. I often get calls from small food companies asking me how they can scale up their recipe to an industrial size. Clients will often ask, “I measure my liquids with a measuring cup and I use teaspoons to weight out my salt and sugar- is that ok??”
I answer NO!! A recipe and a formula are not really the same thing (although they are often used interchangeably) – a recipe is what you make in your house, and record your amounts in cups, tablespoons and pinches. A formula is how a professional food maker will document your information and is based on pounds, kilograms, grams and other weight measurements. These weights are then converted to percentages so any amount or batch size can be made on those confirmed percentages.
This means that if you have 2 cups of water in your recipe, you have to weigh it out—and 2 cups of honey will not weigh the same amount as that water, and a cup of corn syrup will also have a different weight. This is because all these ingredients have different densities. The density of water is 1 gram per 1 ml (volume) but the density of honey is about 1.4 gram per 1 ml (volume) and different types of honey even have different densities!
Here is a sample of a simple conversion of a homemade recipe to a professional industrial formulation:
Typical Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
(recipe Converted to Weights (Approximate):
2-1/4 cups All Purpose Baking Flour: 320 grams
¾ cup granulated sugar: 151 grams
1-teaspoon salt: 227 grams
1 teaspoon vanilla extract: 303 grams
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 4 grams
1-teaspoon baking soda: 4.8 grams
¾ cup packed brown sugar: 185 grams
1 cup (2 sticks butter): 8 grams
2 large eggs: 97 grams
2 large eggs: 122 grams
This very simple mathematical conversion will ensure that your staff will be consistent with their food measurements. Consistency will translate to cost savings as well as ensure that each portion will have the right amount of active medicinal ingredients. After all, if the batch comes out too large, the medicine portion may be, by percentage—not as much as it was the last time you made it.
Need help translating your recipe to a formula or creating a nutritional label, help is available via www.alacarteconnections.com
RACHEL ZEMSER
STAFF EDITOR