496 English banana bread recipes. For every word used in at least 10 of their titles, the recipes that use it against the rest, on every ingredient, in grams per 100 g of flour. 4 words go with a clear difference; 14 others change nothing measurable.
This is what recipe writers do when they pick a word, not proof that an ingredient makes the texture: the numbers show what recipes with the word have in common, and a recipe can earn its word through the method, the pan or the oven instead.
Recipes called “best” (25), “easy” (18) or “moist” (12) use about the same amounts as the rest on every ingredient measured here, within what chance would explain.
Words that promise how the result eats or how the recipe goes.
Recipes called “healthy”: less fat (25% vs 45%); less sugar (56% vs 80%).
“healthy” (26)the rest (470)middle half of all
Fatrecipes called healthy 25% vs the rest 45%
Sugarrecipes called healthy 56% vs the rest 80%
For example: Healthy Raspberry Chocolate Chip Banana Bread (bakerbynature.com) · Healthy Banana Bread (thefirstyearblog.com)
Words that name something in the recipe or the kind it is. Some differences here are what the word says outright; they show the numbers can be trusted where the answer is known.
Recipes with “double chocolate” in the title: more banana (236% vs 143%); more egg (53% vs 40%); more leavening (4.8% vs 3.2%).
“double chocolate” (17)the rest (479)middle half of all
Bananarecipes with double chocolate in the title 236% vs the rest 143%
Eggrecipes with double chocolate in the title 53% vs the rest 40%
Leaveningrecipes with double chocolate in the title 4.8% vs the rest 3.2%
For example: Double Chocolate Banana Bread (sallysbakingaddiction.com) · Double chocolate banana bread recipe (janespatisserie.com)
Recipes with “pumpkin” in the title: less banana (95% vs 150%).
“pumpkin” (18)the rest (478)middle half of all
Bananarecipes with pumpkin in the title 95% vs the rest 150%
For example: Pumpkin Banana Bread (foodnetwork.com) · Pumpkin Banana Bread Recipe (crazyforcrust.com)
Recipes with “chocolate” in the title: more leavening (4.4% vs 3.2%).
“chocolate” (44)the rest (452)middle half of all
Leaveningrecipes with chocolate in the title 4.4% vs the rest 3.2%
For example: Fudgy Chocolate Banana Bread (thereciperebel.com) · Chocolate Banana Bread (sugarspunrun.com)
Recipes with these words in the title use about the same amounts as the rest on every ingredient, within what chance would explain. The number is how many titles use the word.
Titles are split into words, with two-word names kept whole ("small batch", "cream cheese", "brown butter") and spellings folded together ("crisp" and "crispy"). The dish's own name, words like "the" and "recipe", and any word in half the titles or more are left out. A word needs at least 10 recipes, and there must be 10 without it. English titles only, so a word cannot stand in for a language.
A difference is shown when the medians sit at least a third of the middle half of all these recipes apart (about half a standard deviation, a medium effect) and a rank test puts it at 3 standard errors or more. For an ingredient many recipes skip, the share using none counts too: 25 points apart at the same 3 standard errors. With dozens of words and every ingredient tested, about one chance difference in 370 comparisons would pass, so a lab may show one that is luck; a finding that repeats across labs is unlikely to be.
Shares are rounded down. Each card links two recipes that use the word, nearest its own medians.