Britain’s treasured family recipes are at risk of disappearing, according to new research from HP, with two thirds (67%) of those who have a family recipe, or are unsure whether they have one, concerned that recipes passed down through their family could be lost.  A further 21% have already lost, misplaced or accidentally thrown away a recipe they wish they still had.

But the research also points to a way to protect them: 79% believe printing is an effective way to preserve family recipes, while a printed recipe book was the format people trusted most to keep them safe for future generations.

Now, HP is partnering with Lorraine Kelly to launch The National Book of Bakes – a nationwide project to find Britain’s treasured family baking recipes and preserve them in print.



HP and Lorraine are calling on people across Britain to submit photographs of their favourite family recipes, together with the stories behind them. Selected recipes will be printed using an HP Smart Tank, which comes with three years of ink included, and brought together in a professionally bound book to create a lasting record of Britain’s baking memories.

Where possible, the original recipes will be reproduced as they are – preserving the handwriting, scribbled amendments, secret ingredients and family tips that make them unique.

Broadcaster Lorraine Kelly said: “There's something so special about having an old family recipe, especially when it's written by hand by someone you love.

On paper it might just look like instructions on how to make a cake, but it’s so much more than that.

It’s a piece of family history. Especially if it has been handed down through generations.

I found my Granny’s recipe for a Dundee cake in one of my old recipe books. It’s a bit battered and tatty round the edges but it’s one of my most precious possessions.

I’ve printed her recipe off to keep for myself and to pass copies onto my daughter and my friends and other family members.
This will keep it safe and ensure my granddaughter Billie will be able to bake the same cake one day. I’d urge everyone to preserve these precious memories by doing the same. It’s quick and easy and a wonderful way to remember those we love.” 

Britain’s recipes are already being lost

For many families, the threat of losing a recipe is very real. More than one in five (22%) say family recipes are at risk because they exist only in someone’s head, while 18% say they are written on scraps of paper that are falling apart or fading.

More than half (51%) of surveyed Brits also agree that traditional British bakes are being forgotten, while 61% of those who bake from scratch say they do so less often than previous generations.

Some of Britain’s best-known bakes are also failing to make it into younger bakers’ repertoires, with lemon drizzle cake (73%), trifle (68%), scones (61%) and apple crumble (55%) among the recipes people say they have never attempted.
Yet there is a strong desire to hold on to these traditions. Almost three quarters (72%) find the idea of preserving important family recipes so they can be passed on appealing, while 63% agree that secret or family tips can make bakes taste better than generic recipes.

Jaina Mistry, UK & Ireland Home Print Category Manager at HP said: “A family recipe can be incredibly precious, but also surprisingly fragile – scribbled on an old piece of paper, buried in a camera roll or simply remembered by one person.
“This project is about using print to give those recipes a more permanent home. With HP Smart Tank and three years of ink included, we can bring recipes from families across Britain together on the printed page, preserving not just how something is made, but the handwriting, notes and stories that make it part of a family’s history.”

Put your family recipe into print

HP is now inviting people across Britain to submit the baking recipe they would most like to preserve.
It could be a recipe passed down through generations, a regional speciality your family has made for years, or simply a bake connected to someone or a memory that matters to you.

Members of the public can submit a photograph of their treasured recipe, together with the story behind it, via

https://www.hp3yearsofink.co.uk/?utm_source=earned&utm_medium=research&utm_campaign=baking  for the chance to have it reproduced in print and included in The National Book of Bakes.

www.hp.com