Recipe Analysis vs Food Database Requests

The two types of requests go to two different access points described here. More importantly though they are different with respect of their use and the format of the requests the access points accept

Recipe Analysis Request

All requests are done using POST. It is to be used to analyse nutrition for entire recipes – recipe title, ingredient list and istructions included. It saves you time and effort to enter the recipes and the ingredients line by line.
It also calculates all nutrition labels on a meal level so that you can see at a glance what kind of diet the recipe is applicable for.
Finally it adjusts quantity for certain ingredients to account for the cooking pocess. For example it calculates oil absorption for fried recipes, excludes solids from stock and broth recipes, calculates marinate absorption for marinates and much more.

h2.Types

Composite types are described in terms of their JSON representation.

Throughout descriptions, the following notation is used:

• integer, float, and string stand for the JavaScript primitive types integer, float, and string, respectively
• enum stands for a string field that only takes on values from a pre-defined range (the range is specified where essential)
• T[] stands for an array of objects of type T
• T[*] stands for an object (associative map) whose every field (element) is of type T.

Food Database Request

All requests here are done using GET. This is the classic food database API you are used to. With a twist.
You can submit one ingredient at a time and Edamam will return nutrition and diet labels for the said ingredient. You need to submit together quantity and ingredient, not just ingredient in order to get correct data. ‘1 large potato’ vs ‘one potato’
This way we save you time and effort.

Recipe Analysis Requests

Path: https://api.edamam.com/api/nutrition-details

Returns nutritional information based on a POST request of the recipe content

The following parameters are part of the POST request URL:

POST Request

You will use a POST request to submit the recipe content—more specifically the recipe title and ingredient list.

The response the API will return will contain nutritional analysis for the recipe based on the information provided.

The contents of the request must be a JSON object with the following format:

The request must contain the header

Content-Type: application/json

New recipes, resubmission and licensing count

Once you submit a recipe via the API you start paying Edamam a monthly licensing fee for each new analyzed recipe. Sometimes however, you may need to refresh the nutrition data for an already submitted recipe, in case you have lost the nutrition data for example. Submitting a recipe directly will count as analyzing a new recipe and you will be charged again licensing fee for the nutrition information. To avoid that we’ve implemented a system based on HTTP’s Etag mechanism.

First, each successfully processed recipe will also return a tag in the ETag response header. This value must be preserved together with the recipe. Then, when resubmitting the recipe, you should include the value in the If-None-Match request header.

There three possible outcomes:

1. You are already using the most up to date version of the Edamam data. That is, you already have the newest version of the nutritional info. In this case, the system will return HTTP status code 304 – Not Modified. Note, that you can force the reevaluation in this case (for example if you lost your data) by passing the force parameter. Edamam will know that you are already paying license for the nutrition information for this recipe and you will not be charged twice.
2. We have updated our database, the recipe is processed again. In this case you’ll receive the possibly updated nutrition data as well as the updated ETag header. You should store that new value and use it for further resubmissions.
3. The recipe you submitted has been change by you. As the ETag hash contains a “signature” for the recipe content the system will respond with HTTP status code 409 – Conflict. In case you used the wrong ETag you can use correct the code, or if the recipe has changed you can resubmit the recipe as new one (that is, without sending the If-None-Match header).

Licensing count example. You have analyzed 100 recipes the first month, 50 the second month and 1 the third month. The first month you will pay licensing fee for the nutrition of 100 recipes, the second month for 150 and the third for 151. If you don’t analyze any more recipes after the third month you will pay licensing fee for the nutrition for the total of 151 recipes every month thereafter.

Example POST request

Here is an example using curl:

This will send the recipe.json file for processing.

Here is the contents of the recipe.json file:

Response

Example response

Here you can download a sample of the respons with ingredient level nutrition data

Recipe

Note: Only a subset of the fields may be present, depending on the interface through which the recipe is obtained. Refer to the specific interface description for details.

NutrientInfo

Ingredient

Food Database Requests

Path: https://api.edamam.com/api/nutrition-data

Returns nutritional information for the spcified ingredient.

GET Request

You will use a GET request to submit the ingredient.

The API return nutritional analysis for the specified ingredient.

Example GET request

As an example, let’s say we want to find the nutrition information for an apple. You should always include the quantity and the measure, so we’ll have to say “1 large apple” instead of just “apple”. We then need to URL-encode this string. In this case, this means to just replace the spaces with %20, so it becomes “1%20large%20apple”. Please note, that the quotation marks aren’t part of the string.
Here is an example using curl:

Response

Example response

• Always include quantity and measure in the reques. Submitting ‘1 large apple’ vs. submitting just ‘apple’

Response

Note: Only a subset of the fields may be present, depending on the interface through which the recipe is obtained. Refer to the specific interface description for details.

NutrientInfo

Ingredient

Nutritional Label Definitions

Nutrition labels are shared by recipes and foods alike. They are assigned by Edamam based on the ingredients contained in the food label for CPG foods and by the basic ingredients of each recipe for recipes.