Secret Recipes

Here are three of the most-guarded secret recipes in the world:

Krispy Kreme Doughnut:

When people talk about a Krispy Kreme doughnut, they're usually referring to the signature variety - the Original Glaze - which was created by Joe LeBeau, a New Orleans cook, in 1933. The recipe is now being kept in an envelope inside a combination lock at the company's headquarters in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. To ensure that it will remain confidential, three separate groups of workers prepare separate portions of the doughnut and then mixed together at the plant.

KFC Chicken:

The recipe for the Colonel's chicken is locked in a vault at Kentucky Fried Chicken headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky and is accessible to only 2 people. As with Krispy Kreme, KFC has two separate companies that prepare half of the portion of the recipe, thereby ensuring secrecy. It is then blended in a way, which according to KFC, cannot be reverse engineered.

In 2000, a couple purchased the Colonel's house in Kentucky and claimed to have discovered the secret recipe in a book written by the Colonel which is hidden in the Attic. KFC quicky sued the couple, but later dropped it after determining that the ingredients were not the actual KFC recipe.

Coke:

Better known as "Merchandise 7x" by the Coca-Cola employees, the formula for Coke is kept in a bank vault in Atlanta, Georgia, and is very seldom seen. The company's bylaws specify that only 2 high-ranking executives will know the formula at any one time, and is passed down only by word of mouth. The company even have a policy that those 2 executives cannot fly on the same plane at the same time.

In 1954 a rumor spread through Morocco that Coca-Cola contained pig's blood, which would have made it taboo among Muslims. The beverage remained under suspicion until the sultan's son publicly drank a Coke. The company eagerly publicizes one fact about its ingredients — that the glycerine used is extracted from vegetable matter, not pork.

In 1977, the Indian government demanded Coca-Cola to disclose the soda's ingredients. Rather than submit, Coca-Cola stopped its business and left the country, only returning in 1993.

So the next time you are in KFC and having a combo meal of original recipe chicken with Coke, remind yourself that you are putting in your stomach two of the world's top secrets.

Random Odds & Ends:

• When KFC first translated its advertising slogan "finger lickin' good" into Chinese, it came out as "eat your fingers off."
• KFC products are the most popularly requested items for US death row inmates' final meals.
• On May 15, 1950, Coke became the first product ever to appear on the cover of Time Magazine.
• The first Coca-Cola was sold on May 8, 1886 at a soda fountain in Jacob's Pharmacy in Atlanta. It was originally marketed for its medicinal qualities.
• Krispy Kreme produces enough doughnuts in about a week to make a line of doughnuts from New York City to Los Angeles.
  
• The hole in the center of the doughnut is credited to a young boy named Hanson Gregory, who, in 1847, suggested to his mother that she put a hole in the middle of her “fried cakes” to ensure the cake was fully cooked in the middle.