Has KFC's secret and highly-guarded original chicken recipe finally been revealed?

The secret Original Recipe has been classified more highly than most state secrets since the 1940s and is the underpinning of the fast food chain's success.

But the Chicago Tribune on Friday published what one relative of KFC Colonel Harland Sanders believes is the recipe, which has been safely tucked away in a family scrapbook for years.

One of Colonel Sanders' distant relatives by marriage, Joe Ledington, thinks he may have found the original finger lickin' recipe for KFC chicken, hidden inside of a family scrapbook

Colonel Harland Sanders bites into a piece of his famous Kentucky fried chicken September 9,1976 as he celebrates his 86th birthday

The blend of 11 herbs and spices is kept in a vault, says the company, and no one - except the company, of course - knows what it is.

In fact, Sanders came up with the idea to have two different companies make part of the recipe, so no one company would ever have the entire thing.

But Joe Ledington, a nephew of the colonel by marriage, has a scrapbook that was once owned by Claudia Sanders, second wife of the colonel. And inside that scrapbook might be the chicken world's biggest secret.

Inside the scrapbook is a handwritten recipe stuck inside of an envelope that also contained Claudia's will. Claudia passed away in 1997.

Ledington said he has had the scrapbook for about four years, as it was passed down through family members.

Does he think it's the real Original Recipe?

'Yeah, I do,' he told the outlet. 'I don't want to get in an argument with [parent company] Yum! Brands about it but ... I'm pretty sure that it's pretty close to the original.'

Colonel Harland Sanders, the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken, is shown here as he celebrates his 88th birthday - He invented the highly popular 11 spices recipe that has been a closely guarded secret since the '40s

Above, a commemorative representation of the 11 secret herbs and spices Colonel Harland Sanders made famous in his recipe for Kentucky Fried Chicken

The Tribune decided to put the recipe to the rest, whipping it up as written, and then comparing it to a batch of fresh KFC bought at a local restaurant.

After several tries that went awry, the test cooks finally came up with a batch, using the same ingredients but also sprinkling on some MSG flavor-enhancer Accent, that the outlet said tasted 'indistinguishable' from that bought at the fast food joint.

Yum! Brands, however, is squawking that it's not the recipe at all: 'Lots of people through the years have claimed to discover or figure out the secret recipe, but no one’s ever been right,' the company said, somewhat coyly.

Could it mean until now? Try it for yourself: