Food - Drink
The Real Reason Brands Put Recipes On The Back Of Products
By KATIE LENHARDT
You might be surprised to learn that your family’s treasured casserole or cookie recipe may have come from the label on a food product sold in stores. For decades, food brands have been using test kitchens to create the recipes printed on the back of their product packages, and this is the reasoning and history behind this long tradition.
Marketing and profits are the main motivators behind back-label recipes, and if you're guessing that some of these recipes are exaggerated in order to benefit the brand, you'd be right. For soy sauce brand Kikkoman’s turkey brine recipe, Chef Helen Roberts called for the whole bottle of sauce to be used, in order to sell more product.
Also, food brands sometimes luck out and create a smash-hit recipe that becomes synonymous with the product, creating a loyal customer base that won't stray from the recipe or the product used to make it. Just look at Rice Krispies Treats or Nestle's chocolate chip cookies, which somehow aren't the same when made with generic products.
Today, recipes on food labels are still responsible for bringing viral dishes and family traditions to the dinner table. If you think you aren't susceptible to marketing ploys and you've never followed a recipe straight from a can, know that the green bean casserole you make for Thanksgiving was invented by Campbell's soup.