Cottolene

Cottolene was a brand of shortening made of beef suet and cottonseed oil produced in the United States from the late 1880s until the mid-20th century.

It was the first mass-produced and mass-marketed alternative to cooking with lard, and is remembered today for its iconic national ad campaign and the cookbooks that were written to promote its use.

N. K. Fairbank Co. of Chicago seized upon this glut and created a product catering to late-19th-century Americans' growing infatuation with labor-saving packaged foods for the "dainty" (or "lard-free") diet (according to Dr. Alice Ross, writing in the Journal of Antiques and Collectibles.

)[1] Techniques employing nickel-based alloys used in the isolation and removal of consumable hydrogenated vegetable oils from plants, especially cottonseed, were pioneered by the efforts of Fairbank chemist James F. Boyce.

Packaged similarly in metal pails—and also marketed with accompanying cookbooks—Crisco was composed entirely of vegetable oils, and became the preferred brand found in many kitchens of the day.