diff --git a/chef/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/chef/util/ChefUtils.java b/chef/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/chef/util/ChefUtils.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..621e43f3dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/chef/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/chef/util/ChefUtils.java
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+/**
+ *
+ * Copyright (C) 2010 Cloud Conscious, LLC. <info@cloudconscious.com>
+ *
+ * ====================================================================
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ * ====================================================================
+ */
+package org.jclouds.chef.util;
+
+import static com.google.common.base.Preconditions.checkNotNull;
+
+import java.util.Date;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.regex.Matcher;
+import java.util.regex.Pattern;
+
+import org.jclouds.domain.JsonBall;
+import org.jclouds.ohai.Automatic;
+import org.jclouds.ohai.config.multibindings.MapBinder;
+
+import com.google.common.base.Predicate;
+import com.google.common.base.Supplier;
+import com.google.common.collect.Iterables;
+import com.google.inject.Binder;
+import com.google.inject.TypeLiteral;
+
+/**
+ * 
+ * 
+ * @author Adrian Cole
+ */
+public class ChefUtils {
+
+   public static Date fromOhaiTime(JsonBall ohaiDate) {
+      return new Date(Long.parseLong(checkNotNull(ohaiDate, "ohaiDate").toString().replaceAll("\\.[0-9]*$", "")));
+   }
+
+   public static JsonBall toOhaiTime(long millis) {
+      return new JsonBall(millis + "");
+   }
+
+   public static MapBinder<String, Supplier<JsonBall>> ohaiAutomaticAttributeBinder(Binder binder) {
+      MapBinder<String, Supplier<JsonBall>> mapbinder = MapBinder.newMapBinder(binder, new TypeLiteral<String>() {
+      }, new TypeLiteral<Supplier<JsonBall>>() {
+      }, Automatic.class);
+      return mapbinder;
+   }
+
+   /**
+    * 
+    * @return NoSuchElementException if no element in the runList is a role.
+    */
+   public static String findRoleInRunList(List<String> runList) {
+      final Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile("^role\\[(.*)\\]$");
+      String roleToParse = Iterables.find(runList, new Predicate<String>() {
+
+         @Override
+         public boolean apply(String input) {
+            return pattern.matcher(input).matches();
+         }
+
+      });
+      Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher(roleToParse);
+      matcher.find();
+      return matcher.group(1);
+   }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/chef/core/src/test/java/org/jclouds/chef/util/ChefUtilsTest.java b/chef/core/src/test/java/org/jclouds/chef/util/ChefUtilsTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..fdf1e0c63b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/chef/core/src/test/java/org/jclouds/chef/util/ChefUtilsTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+/**
+ *
+ * Copyright (C) 2010 Cloud Conscious, LLC. <info@cloudconscious.com>
+ *
+ * ====================================================================
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ * ====================================================================
+ */
+package org.jclouds.chef.util;
+
+import static org.testng.Assert.assertEquals;
+
+import java.util.Date;
+import java.util.NoSuchElementException;
+
+import org.jclouds.domain.JsonBall;
+import org.testng.annotations.Test;
+
+import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableList;
+
+/**
+ * Tests behavior of {@code ChefUtils}
+ * 
+ * @author Adrian Cole
+ */
+@Test(groups = "unit", sequential = true, testName = "ohai.ChefUtilsTest")
+public class ChefUtilsTest {
+   public static long millis = 1280251180727l;
+   public static String millisString = "1280251180727";
+   public static Date now = new Date(1280251180727l);
+
+   public void testToOhaiTime() {
+      assertEquals(ChefUtils.toOhaiTime(millis).toString(), millisString);
+   }
+
+   public void testFromOhaiTime() {
+      assertEquals(ChefUtils.fromOhaiTime(new JsonBall(millisString)), now);
+
+   }
+
+   @Test(expectedExceptions = NoSuchElementException.class)
+   public void testFindRoleInRunListThrowsNoSuchElementOnRecipe() {
+      ChefUtils.findRoleInRunList(ImmutableList.of("recipe[java]"));
+   }
+
+   public void testFindRoleInRunList() {
+      assertEquals(ChefUtils.findRoleInRunList(ImmutableList.of("role[prod]")), "prod");
+
+   }
+
+}