Pretty as a Picture
Location
Required Items
Rewards
What the allowance actually buys
One allowance here buys 36,240 EXP, which places it 4th of the 6 Lv 30 Culinarian tradecraft leves that record EXP. The best of them, Bloody Good Tart, This, returns 72,430 EXP for the same allowance, 100% more.
Across that rung the return runs from 17,230 EXP to 72,430 EXP per allowance — 6 distinct figures spanning 320%, so the wrong pick leaves 55,200 EXP of the allowance unspent.
On whether to wait: the best Lv 35 Culinarian tradecraft leve returns 79,780 EXP per allowance, 10% more than the best on this rung, while the Lv 25 rung behind tops out at 55,060 EXP.
At Lv 30 this data holds 52 leves paying EXP across 2 categories: the 48 Tradecraft ones average 44,832 EXP per allowance, the 4 Fieldcraft ones 275,323 EXP, which puts this leve 19% below its own category's average.
Gil ranks it differently: 347 gil per allowance is 2nd of 6 on the same rung against 4th on EXP, with the best there paying 534 gil.
Dark Vinegar ×3 is a Lv 31 Culinarian recipe, a single step, costing 4 units of raw material and 3 crystals.
Handing that in returns 9,060 EXP and 87 gil for every unit of raw material the order swallows.