Family Recipe Secrets

Do you keep your special family recipes a secret?

We're all about sharing the family recipes here at Family Recipe Central. But that doesn't necessarily mean you have to share your special recipes with the entire world. A lot of people would like to share their family recipes with other family members, but still keep the recipes within the family.

That's why we provide "family groups" at Family Recipe Central.

You can create a group for your family, and only members that you invite to join your group can view and share the recipes and other content that you keep safe and secure within your group. It's a great way for families to collaborate online, but still maintain some family privacy.

But what happens when Grandma doesn't want to share her secret recipe, even with other family members?

It happens more often than you might think ...

I had to smile when I read this amusing article recently from the Buffalo News - "share that secret recipe before it's too late". We've all probably run into this at some time or another. Your mother, aunt or other family relative doesn't want to share a special recipe because it's her treasured secret.

Understandably, our recipes have value and power. Not necessarily monetary value, although a great recipe can become the foundation of an entire food enterprise. Consider Bush's Baked Beans for example. From a secret family recipe, despite Duke's efforts (the family golden retriever) to spill the beans (sorry for the bad pun, I'm sure I didn't make that one up).

For Grandma, the power is more the attention and adoration she receives every time family is over to enjoy her special meatballs. It might seem selfish that grandma doesn't want to share the meatball recipe, but in her mind, it brings her attention and appreciation by keeping the recipe a secret. After all, what if others in the family would start making these special meatballs? No one will come to visit grandma anymore. I know, sounds silly, but food and recipes are powerful forces at work within the family.

Here's where you want to be careful with taking family recipe secrets too far.

As real and understandable as "keeping special recipes a secret" may be, don't let your loved one's take these family treasures to the grave. I don't think that grandma necessarily wants her cooking legacy to end when she's gone. So it's better if we can find a way to establish a sense of trust with our family members to preserve and hand down the secret family recipes without steeling anyone's thunder.

We think we can help at Family Recipe Central. We provide a safe and secure environment for families to share their family recipes online. Within the "family groups" that you can create on our website, you can establish a fun and convenient way to share your family recipes with other family members, and keep everything private within your family at the same time.

And your entire family can honor Grandma in a loving way by putting her special recipes in a family cookbook that you can easily create at Family Recipe Central.

More important, you can encourage the "handing down" and "preservation" of your family recipes and cooking traditions from one generation to the next. And provide a loving and trusting way for Grandma to share her recipe secrets.