Brands publish the ingredient list. They never publish the recipe. We’re built for BBQ nerds, curious cooks, and anyone who’s ever stared at a jar thinking: okay but how much paprika is actually in here?
From the jar
Point the camera at the ingredient list (or type it by hand when the jar is greasy and the lighting is tragic). EU and US labels list spices by descending weight — first listed weighs the most. That’s our starting clue.
We filter out “may contain traces of” and the manufacturer address. You’re here for cumin, not the KvK number.
Order alone isn’t a recipe. SpiceHack estimates percentages with a Zipf-style curve, then applies kitchen reality: salt ranges, heat caps, profile types. You get honest bands — not a fake “exactly 12.4%” lab assay.
If cayenne is listed first, we raise an eyebrow. Nature (and marketing) usualy don’t work that way.
Scan the barcode when you can. We look up the product on Open Food Facts and cross-check the scanned list against what’s published — handly when OCR misreads “paprika” as something unprintable.
In the lab
This is the product. Drag proportional sliders, lock an ingredient, nudge salt without wrecking the rest. When it smells right in your head, scale the batch to any weight in grams and save the Perfect Copycat.
OCR is the on-ramp. The workbench is where you stop guessing and start weighing.
Chili-forward blends get a heat readout so you don’t accidentally recreate “mild” as “call the fire department.” Guidance, not a dare.
Saved blends live on your phone in SwiftData. No account. No cloud spice vault. Your rubs stay in your pocket — next to the crumbs.
Against the internet
Optional Brave Search (your own API key in Settings) finds copycat recipes online. Side-by-side comparison shows where your reconstruction agrees — or where the internet is just vibes.
No key? Browser search links still work. We’re not holding your paprika hostage.
Estimates on purpose. Official ratios are never published. SpiceHack is a lab notebook for your spice shelf — not affiliated with any brand, and not a substitute for tasting, adjusting, and writing “too much garlic” in the margin.
Help
Bugs, burned tongues, App Review notes, or “why is salt always weird” — we’re here.
Email support@spicehack.orgReference search is optional. Grab a free Brave Search key, paste it in Settings, and we store it in Keychain — not in UserDefaults gossip columns.
Get a Brave API key →Blends stay on device. Camera OCR stays on device. No ad SDKs. No creepy trackers.
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