Formula validation
The recipe validation panel: pick a formula type, read the validation score, the in-range warnings, and export the analysis.
What it is
Formula validation is the recipe-editor panel that measures how well your recipe's composition fits the target ranges of a formula type (a saved set of parameters with a minimum, a maximum, and an optimum). It gives you a validation score from 0 to 100 and a warning for each parameter: in range, caution (near the limit), or out of range.
It works for any recipe, not just fillings: the formula type is the template you compare against (a ganache, a caramel, a pâte de fruit, or one of your custom types).
- Path:
https://app.areacacao.com/reciview?id=<id> - How to get there: open a recipe, expand the side charts panel, and go to the Validation sub-tab.
- Availability: any user with an account. The panel is available on all plans.
Pick a formula type
When you open the panel without a type selected, you'll only see the Select a type button: no indicator appears until you pick one.
Click Select a type to open the selector. There you'll find:
- Three predefined types, the same ones the Filling formulator generates: Ganache, Soft caramel, and Pâte de fruit. They are the source of truth for the default ranges, so a recipe validated here scores the same as it does in the formulator.
- Your custom types, if you've created any (see Custom formula types).
- A Create custom type option, which opens the type manager.
The chosen type is saved on the recipe. If you open a recipe that already points to an unusual type, the panel still resolves it and shows a subtle non-standard type — you can change it notice in case you'd rather pick one of the three predefined types.
The parameter table
Once a type is selected, the panel shows one row per parameter of the formula type. The parameters aren't a fixed set: they depend on the chosen type. The most common ones are Water, Sugars, Total fat, Saturated fat, Other fats, and Cocoa butter fat, plus water activity (aw) and pH when the type defines them.
Each row shows:
- Your recipe's calculated value for that parameter, with its unit (
%,Aw, etc.). - The type's target range (minimum–maximum, with the optimum for reference).
- A status warning: in range, caution (near the limit), or out of range.
Parameters with no data don't penalize
If no ingredient in the recipe provides data for a calculated parameter, that parameter is skipped from the calculation instead of counting as 0%. That way the score isn't dragged down by fields your recipe can't have (for example, lecithin or bicarbonate in a caramel without those ingredients). Skipped parameters don't count in the "X in range" tally and may be listed separately as not evaluable (no data) for transparency.
This is what makes the panel consistent with the Filling formulator: both skip what they can't compute, so the same caramel gets the same score in both places.
The validation score
Below the table you'll see the validation score, from 0 to 100, with the detail "N in range · N out of N". The closer each parameter is to its optimum and the fewer parameters that fall outside, the higher the score.
This score evaluates an existing recipe against a formula type. It's different from the score the Formulator shows when it generates a recipe with AI (which decides whether the recipe is delivered or refunded). See the difference in Validation score.
Physicochemical measurements (aw / pH)
Some parameters —water activity (aw) and pH— can't be calculated from the ingredients: they're measured in the workshop. The panel lets you enter your measurements and, when you do, they enter the calculation just like any other parameter: they count in the score, the table, the visual profile, and the exports.
- They're optional: if you don't measure them, those parameters are simply skipped (no penalty).
- Enter them in their real units (aw between 0 and 1; pH between 0 and 14).
Complete analysis
The Complete analysis button opens an expanded view with four tabs:
- Dashboard — a summary of the score, the parameters, and their status, with the visual profile (radar).
- Detailed analysis — the full parameter-by-parameter table, with the deviation from the optimum and the top ingredients contributing to each one.
- Simulator — adjust values and see how the score would change without touching the recipe. When a simulation is active, a Simulation active badge marks it in the header and the exports use that state.
- Comparison — compare your recipe against the offered predefined types and your custom types.
From here you can also open the type manager with Manage custom types (see Custom formula types).
Export the analysis (PDF and CSV)
From the Complete analysis you can export the result:
- PDF — an A4 report with AreaCacao branding that includes the visual profile (radar), the parameter table with the deviation from the optimum, the aw / pH section, and the top ingredients contributing to each parameter. If you export with a simulation active, the PDF marks it as simulated data.
- CSV — the detail of each parameter to open in Excel or another spreadsheet. Labels are exported in the app's language (if you use it in Spanish, the columns come out in Spanish).