Ingredients
One ingredient per line — how Scrumptious reads amounts, units and notes, plus ranges, fractions and groups.
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Type or paste your ingredients into One ingredient per line. You don’t fill in separate amount, unit and name boxes: Scrumptious reads each line and splits it for you. Under the box you’ll see how each line was read, with the amount and unit highlighted. If a line looks wrong there, reword it.
How a line is read
2 1/4 cups (280 g) all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
| Part | Read as |
|---|---|
2 1/4 | Amount (2.25) |
cups | Unit (cup) |
all-purpose flour | Ingredient |
(280 g), spooned and leveled | Notes (shown in lighter text after the name) |
The rules:
- Amount — the number at the start of the line.
- Unit — the word right after the amount, if it’s a unit Scrumptious knows (list below).
- Notes — anything after the first comma, and anything in brackets at the end of the line.
- Everything else is the ingredient name.
- Bullets and list numbers at the start (
-,*,•,1.) are removed.
Amounts it understands
| You type | Read as |
|---|---|
2, 1.5, 1,5 | Whole numbers and decimals (comma decimals work too) |
1/2, 1 1/2 | Fractions and mixed numbers |
½, 1½, ¼, ⅓, ¾, ⅛ … | Unicode fractions |
1-2, 1–2, 2 to 3 | Ranges. Both ends scale when readers change servings. |
1 (14 oz) can tomatoes | A package size in brackets straight after the amount is kept with the unit: 1 (14 oz) can. |
A line with no number (salt and pepper to taste) is kept as written and isn’t scaled.
Units it recognises
Singular, plural and common abbreviations all work.
| Unit | You can type |
|---|---|
| cup | cups, cup, c., c |
| tablespoon | tablespoons, tablespoon, tbsps, tbsp., tbsp, tbs., tbs, tbl, T (capital) |
| teaspoon | teaspoons, teaspoon, tsps, tsp., tsp, t (lower case) |
| fluid ounce | fluid ounces, fluid ounce, fl. oz., fl. oz, fl oz |
| ounce | ounces, ounce, oz., oz |
| pound | pounds, pound, lbs., lbs, lb., lb |
| gram | grams, gram, gr, g |
| kilogram | kilograms, kilogram, kgs, kg |
| milligram | milligrams, milligram, mg |
| millilitre | milliliters, millilitres, milliliter, millilitre, mls, ml |
| litre | liters, litres, liter, litre, l |
| quart / pint / gallon | quarts, quart, qts, qt. / pints, pint, pts, pt. / gallons, gallon, gal. |
| pinch, dash | pinches, pinch, dashes, dash |
| clove, can, jar, package | cloves, cans, jars, packages, packets, pkg |
| stick, slice, sprig, bunch, head, handful, piece | and their plurals; pieces also as pcs, pc |
Note: Capital T means tablespoon and lower-case t means teaspoon, as in most cookbooks.
Words that aren’t in the list (2 large eggs) stay part of the ingredient name. That’s fine: the amount still scales.
Groups (“For the frosting”)
Long recipes read better in groups.
- Click + Add ingredient group.
- Give each group a name in Group name (e.g. For the sauce).
- Put that group’s ingredients in its own box.
Group names appear as small headings on the card. A recipe with one group doesn’t show a heading unless you name it. Remove group deletes a group and its lines.
What readers can do with your ingredients
- Scale servings — amounts change, rounded to kitchen-friendly fractions (½, ⅓, ¼, ⅛) instead of decimals like 1.04. Unit words change between singular and plural (1 cup → 2 cups).
- Switch US / Metric — amounts with a recognised unit convert. Ingredients without a convertible unit (eggs, cloves, a pinch) stay as written.
- Tick off ingredients as they go.
See Reader features.
Tips for clean results
- Put the amount first:
2 cups flour, notflour, 2 cups. - Put preparation notes after a comma:
1 onion, finely diced. - Put alternatives in notes:
1 cup butter (or margarine). - To stop a line being read as an amount, start it with a word:
About 2 cups brothkeeps About 2 cups broth as the name.
