Why parsing recipe ingredient lines like "2-3 cloves garlic, minced" is harder than it looks

A developer describes the challenge of turning free-form recipe ingredient text into structured data, using lines such as "2 1/2 cups chopped yellow onion" and "2-3 cloves garlic, minced" as examples. The parsed output separates quantities, units, ranges, sizes, preparation notes, and ingredient names, and handles fractions, ranges, and phrases like "to taste." The author showcases an ingredient parser API that offers single-line and batch endpoints, which they suggest for uses like combining shopping list items, nutrition lookups, and meal-planning apps. A free plan is available on RapidAPI, and the author invites users to report misparsed lines in the comments.