Shortening

Vegetable shortening shares many properties with lard: both are semi-solid fats with a higher smoke point than butter and margarine.

[4] In 1907, a German chemist, Edwin Cuno Kayser, moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, the home town of soap manufacturer Procter & Gamble.

[4] Soon after arriving, Kayser made a business deal with Procter & Gamble, and presented the company with two processes to hydrogenate cottonseed oil, with the intent of creating a raw material for soap.

[6] Since the product looked like lard, Procter & Gamble instead began selling it as a vegetable fat for cooking purposes in June 1911, calling it "Crisco", a modification of the phrase "crystallized cottonseed oil".

[7] With these advantages, plus an intensive advertisement campaign by Procter & Gamble, Crisco quickly gained popularity in American households.

As a result, they claimed that the natural flavors of the meal would shine through and be free of black particles and unruly smells common with other fats.

Smucker Company since 2002, remains the best-known brand of shortening in the US, nowadays consisting of a blend of partially and fully hydrogenated soybean and palm oils.

To produce a short dough, which is commonly used for tarts, the shortening is cut into the flour with a food processor, a pastry blender, a pair of table knives, fingers, or other utensil until the resulting mixture has a fine, cornmeal-like texture.

In January 2007, all Crisco products were reformulated to contain less than one gram of trans fat per serving, and the separately marketed trans-fat-free version introduced in 2004 was consequently discontinued.

His research in food science indicates that plant sterols could be used in products like shortening to lower the risk of coronary heart disease by inhibiting the absorption of cholesterol in the small intestine.