Get Cooking with the Public Domain

Whether or not you actually like to cook, you can make a great deal of money by revamping recipes and cookbooks you can freely access from the public domain. There are several ways you can do this. We’ll go over a few of them here.

Ingredients are Free

That is, Ingredients are free from copyright in the first place so whether or not they are in the public domain, you don’t have to worry about copyright infringement by using the same set of ingredients that someone else uses. But let’s say you do procure an old cookbook that is in the public domain. You probably will have to change the ingredients somewhat, especially if brand names that are no longer in existence are used. Also, pay attention to the processes that are used and update them accordingly. Think about which, if any, appliances, mixer, blender, microwave oven, etc, might need to be used that weren’t mentioned in the original recipe. Also pay attention to the verbiage used in the ingredients. For example, if the recipe calls for lard, you might substitute vegetable oil or olive oil.

Make it Yours

Even if the cookbook or recipe is a part of the public domain, infuse your own personality into it by recreating the list of instructions. You can revamp a recipe in no time like this and add it to a blog or create an ebook around a certain type of food or a certain way to cook. You can then add affiliate links and promote products that go along with the recipes, which gives you a virtually limitless list of products to promote.

Add Photographs

The cookbook or recipes you get from the public domain may or may not come with photographs but you can certainly add your own. If you really get into the whole cooking and marketing bit, you can test the recipes yourself, take pictures, and post them all on your blog or website. If you’re just trying to make a quick buck, you can certainly repackage old cookbooks but you probably won’t do as well without adding the personal touch.

Recipes for Health

You don’t have to have a cooking or recipe blog or website to make great use of recipes you get from the public domain. Many health and fitness blogs and websites could be greatly enhanced with recipes that are good for certain diseases and conditions. Diabetes, for example, is a condition that is blogged about and written about a lot online and if you have such a site, you could certainly enhance it with recipes you get from the public domain, even if they aren’t exactly diabetic to begin with. During the revamping process, you can reinvent them to where they would be healthy for diabetics. You can try this with a variety of health and fitness topics. Remember, the closer you are to your subject, the better you are going to come across to your site visitors because they are going to be able to tell that you are passionate about your subject. That doesn’t mean that you have to have diabetes or another condition to promote healthful recipes but do take into consideration your personal interests before starting such a project. Even if the love of your life is chocolate, you can do this type of project and do it well so there is something here for virtually everyone.