When the recipe calls for five tablespoons of salt, four cups of brown sugar, a pound of butter and five eggs, do you ever get the impression that the end product will be good for you? Do you believe the rumour that you can reduce the calories and saturated fat present in double cheese pizza topped with bacon and ground beef by washing it down with Diet Coke? If so, Recipe Analyzer may be for you.
Recipe Analyzer is an online tool, recently announced by Dietitians of Canada, which lets users access the nutritional value of recipes. All you need to do is enter a list of ingredients, and you get a full nutrient profile for a serving of that recipe, plus the number of Food Guide servings the recipe provides.
To analyze your recipe, you need to register first. According to Dietitians of Canada (which, as the name sort of suggests, represents dietitians in Canada), the Recipe Analyzer will suggest substitutions that will give you, for example, less sugar or less salt.
ComputerWorld Canada has yet to test Recipe Analyzer, but we are confident that if you run your favourite poutine recipe through it, the tool will confirm that French Fries, gravy and cheese are indeed good sources of saturated fat.