Most ingredients start with a number (1 cup flour), so they don’t need to be capitalized, but if the ingredient starts with a letter (Salt to taste), it should be capitalized. Some recipe books use lower case, some use upper case, based on my collection.
Are names of foods capitalized?
Most food names are lowercase, but capitalize brand names and trademarks: Roquefort cheese, Tabasco sauce. Most proper nouns or adjectives are capitalized in a food name: Russian dressing, Waldorf salad, bananas Foster.
