Cooking with children - basic skills to master

From how to melt chocolate to boiling an egg - how many of these basic cooking skills do your children understand?

Millions of parents admit to 'rarely' cooking with their children according to a recent study of more than 2,000 mums and dads.

With one in six admitting to not having taught their offspring any basic cooking skills before the age of 12, including how to boil pasta or make scrambled egg.

The survey was conducted by OnePoll.com.

It surveyed parents with children aged five to 12 about their family cooking habits, including how often they cooked with their young family members and how many of the basic skills do their youngsters understand or could complete with a parent's support.

The poll has been commissioned by toy manufacturer Barbie, which this winter is releasing a range of cooking-themed toys.

The results revealed that 59 per cent of children are not able to use any gadgets found in the kitchen cupboards and drawers and eight in 10 youngsters didn't know or understand about crushing garlic.

Measuring and weighing food items is also proving daunting for many under 12s - with 54 per cent of youngsters struggling to get to grips with the scales in the kitchen.

Children's television presenter and 2017 winner of Masterchef Angellica Bell has teamed up with Barbie to get more children interested in cooking, believing, she says, that it teaches key life skills crucial to gaining more independence.

She explained: "Cooking was always such an important part of my childhood, and I was shocked to see so many children aren’t confident in the kitchen and are unable to create basic dishes.''