Can/should I patent my recipe?

[muireach]

I have a recipe that is a modification of an existing recipe. I basically took a recipe that is somewhat popular and added an ingredient that changes drastically what the the original recipe made (sorry for being vague).

Can and should I patent this?

[ludano17]

Sure, maybe it'll be the next Kraft Dinner :) good luck to you

[shashank]

What would be the point? My mom takes recipes from books and online and changes them up a bit either by adding something else or not adding something that's in the recipe. There's really no point in patenting it.

[akule76]

What would be the point? My mom takes recipes from books and online and changes them up a bit either by adding something else or not adding something that's in the recipe. There's really no point in patenting it.

It has to be useful, novel, and non-obvious in order for you to patent it.

Have you done an exhaustive search to make sure no one has done a similar thing before? Getting a patent is expensive and time consuming, and your application will be thrown out if what you are doing has already been done.

Should you? Is there a market for the new recipe where you could make money?

[gilleabart]

You probably can attempt to patent it but should you? .. well you have to consider certain matters. Can you afford to patent it? It costs a lot to patent something. You also have to research different patent services because a lot of them are rip offs and some may take your idea and make money and you won't get a dime.
You also have to consider whether you did something to the receipe that no one else has done. However that can be a matter of who gets to patent it first. There is always the situation in which more than one person thought of the same idea but one has to get it to patent before anyone else thinks of it.
if you say that the special ingredient drastically changes an existing receipe it might be something worth patenting but it looks like you will have to do a lot of research and try contacting people and departments who may be of help. Unfortunately a lot of patent services ( according to my own experience) won't give you information until you start paying them to "work on" patenting your idea.
There is no easy way but if you really believe in your idea it might be worth the try.
On one hand you can't get your hopes up, but on the other hand, don't let nay-sayers dictate your future.

There should be some information on the internet.

Try the links below

http://www.legalzoom.com/sem/patent.html?WT.srch=1&kid=61039477-cd12-54a9-523a-000014138b5a&se=google&q=keyword&refcd=GO000000000000001s_keyword&tsacr=GO18658128127&cm_mmc_o=7BBTkwCjCVzfwEfl%20|%20mwzygt%20|%20PyBzpCjCVzfwEfljGpwzlCjC5zfwEf%20bpwzl&gclid=CLqU95Xzv7ECFQFx4AodvygAAQ

http://store.inventorprise.com/content_articles.php?id=1049



http://www.amazon.com/Patent-Protection-Your-Original-Works/dp/1456532553



http://www.barnesandnoble.com/listing/2694166130602?cm_mmc=Google+Product+Search-_-Q000000630-_-2694166130602&r=1