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Keeping, preserving those precious family recipes

• col-kate-shumaker
• December 20, 2023
• 779

One of the wonderful things about the holidays is everyone seems to break out their best family recipes. You might only make or eat certain dishes once a year. And just one bite can bring back so many memories.

Keeping those family traditions, recipes and foods alive is an important part of our family histories. My dad is here to spend Christmas with us, and he brought me a copy of Grandma’s (his mom’s) drop sugar cookie recipe — in my mom’s handwriting. Grandma Herb didn’t have time for cutout cookies and frosting. These were made with crackly tops, sprinkles and love.

Handwritten or typed recipes can be very personal and often show evidence of years of use. Papers and cards may be folded and torn, and they are often embellished with spills and food stains. The National Archives offers these excellent tips for passing along recipes and preserving the history you have.

—Do not make additional folds in the paper and store it flat (unfolded) whenever possible. As with all paper items, handle recipes with care. Evaluate the condition of the paper, which can include anything from backs of envelopes, stationery, lined notebook paper or card stock specially printed for recording recipes.

—If you are using your family recipes while cooking, avoid splashes of water and droplets of milk or other liquids. Make sure your hands are dry and clean. Recipes written in ink may show evidence of inks running or bleeding because water or another liquid was splashed on them — or the card was set on a damp surface.

—While cooking, put recipes in clear polyester film sleeves to protect them from food spills and greasy fingerprints. Another option is to use a preservation-quality loose-leaf binder style album filled with polyester page protectors into which the recipes can be filed and easily accessed. Do not use the so-called “magnetic albums” that have self-stick pages with an overlay of plastic. Over time these will discolor paper, making it increasingly difficult to safely remove the recipes without tearing them.

—The size of your recipe collection will dictate how you store them. A sizable collection can be stored in standard archival file folders and boxes. Weak or damaged paper also can be placed in polyester sleeves and then in folders and boxes. Recipes also can be scanned and accessed electronically while the originals are kept in safe storage.

—Scanning is a good way to preserve a collection of clippings while enhancing use and sharing with other family members. There is a long tradition of clipping recipes from newspapers, and these also can become family favorites and be passed along. Given that newsprint is typically of poor quality, limited handling and storage in preservation-quality sleeves will protect them during handling.

—Handle cookbooks gently and do not force bindings to open flat. Beloved recipes are often found in cookbooks, which may be decorated with food spills on key pages. They also may have annotations that highlight a particular favorite or that amend the ingredients or proportions.

Nothing says you can’t make these special foods the rest of the year — except tradition. Pumpkin pie tastes just as good in March. Sometimes a “hug from Mom” is just a tray of cookies away.

Happy holidays.

Kate Shumaker is an OSU Extension family and consumer sciences educator and may be reached at 330-674-3015. Like and follow on Facebook @OSUEXTHolmes or visit at https://holmes.osu.edu.