Featured Image Credit: Andrew Barker / Alamy Stock Photo / Tribune
Topics: Food And Drink, KFC
Rhiannon Ingle
Topics: Food And Drink, KFC
KFC is one of the world's most popular fast-food joints and a lot of its success is down to the hype of its 'finger-lickin' chicken.
The classified information of what exactly goes into the mysterious '11 herbs and spices' has been leaked - and from an unlikely source.
Down to precise measurements, keep on reading to find out just what those top-secret ingredients are.
There's always a bit of a mythology when it comes to the father of fried chicken, Colonel Sanders, and his age-old Kentucky Fried Chicken recipe.
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Actually named Harland David Sanders, the OG celebrity chef sure knew how to keep customers coming.
There's always been heaps of protection surrounding the top-secret '11 herbs and spices'.
Even though the Colonel himself told customers that the array of seasonings could be found in their homes, people have been trying to crack the code tirelessly for years.
Coming from a highly unlikely source, it ended up being Sanders' own family who finally released the information to the public back in 2016.
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A reporter from the Chicago Tribune wanted to do some digging and arranged a meeting with Joe Ledington - the Colonel's nephew.
Placed in a family scrapbook of all places, the mystery list of ingredients was not under the hyper-security we'd all imagined it would be.
The recipe was written on the back of the last will and testament of Ledington's aunt, Claudia.
Handwritten with blue ink, the list is titled: "11 Spices — Mix With 2 Cups White Fl."
Ledington casually explained: "That is the original 11 herbs and spices that were supposed to be so secretive."
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"It could be; I don't know for sure," he soon corrected.
The main ingredients of the guarded recipe include four tablespoons of paprika, three tablespoons of white pepper and two tablespoons of garlic salt.
Dubbing one spice the star player of the lot, Ledington said: "The main ingredient is white pepper.
"I call that the secret ingredient. Nobody (in the 1950s) knew what white pepper was. Nobody knew how to use it."
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The other ingredients include a whole host of green herbs like thyme, basil and oregano.
Salt was definitely a surprise to no one but, according to the handwritten note, the '11 herbs and spices' have three separate kinds of salt in them - garlic, regular and celery.
Dried mustard and pepper account for the slightly spicy kick but ground ginger was definitely unexpected.
The news outlet recreated the recipe following the handwritten note and can confirm it was 'finger lickin' good'.
After decades of trying to crack the code, it seems that fast-food's biggest secret has now been told.
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LADbible has reached out to KFC for comment.