Picnic Panic

One allowance here buys 12,490 EXP, which places it 5th of the 6 Lv 20 Culinarian tradecraft leves that record EXP. The best of them, For Crumbs' Sake, returns 22,960 EXP for the same allowance, 84% more.

Across that rung the return runs from 11,880 EXP to 22,960 EXP per allowance — 6 distinct figures spanning 93%, so the wrong pick leaves 11,080 EXP of the allowance unspent.

On whether to wait: the best Lv 25 Culinarian tradecraft leve returns 55,060 EXP per allowance, 140% more than the best on this rung, while the Lv 15 rung behind tops out at 19,270 EXP.

At Lv 20 this data holds 52 leves paying EXP across 2 categories: the 48 Tradecraft ones average 17,352 EXP per allowance, the 4 Fieldcraft ones 113,304 EXP, which puts this leve 28% below its own category's average.

Apple Tart ×3 is a Lv 18 Culinarian recipe, 3 steps deep through 6 intermediates, costing 12 units of raw material and 8 crystals.

Handing that in returns 1,041 EXP and 9 gil for every unit of raw material the order swallows.

The record carries a repeats value of 2. This site reads that as 2 further turn-ins on the same leve — an assumption, because the source data defines no meaning for the field — which would put the ceiling at 37,470 EXP and 306 gil for the 1 allowance it costs, or 37,470 EXP per allowance.