Crisco

Cover of the original Crisco cookbook, 1912

Crisco is a brand of shortening that is popular in the United States. It was first produced in 1911 by Procter & Gamble and was the first shortening to be made entirely of vegetable oil. As such, Crisco may be considered appropriate for vegan diets as it contains no animal products.

When William Procter and James Gamble started the company Procter & Gamble, they hired chemist Edwin C. Kayser and developed the process to hydrogenate cottonseed oil, which ensures the shortening remains solid at normal storage temperatures. The initial purpose was to create a cheaper substance to make candles than the expensive animal fats in use at the time. Electricity began to diminish the candle market, and since the product looked like lard, they began selling it as a food. This product became known as Crisco, with the name deriving from the initial sounds of the expression "crystallized cottonseed oil".

Further success came from the marketing technique of giving away free cookbooks, with every recipe calling for Crisco. Crisco vegetable oil was introduced in 1960. In 1976, Procter & Gamble introduced Puritan Oil, an oil made with sunflower oil, which was marketed as a lower cholesterol alternative. In 1988, Puritan Oil became 100% canola oil.

Procter & Gamble divested the Crisco (oil and shortening) brand (along with Jif peanut butter) in a spinoff to their stockholders, followed by an immediate merger with The J. M. Smucker Co. in 2002.

Changes in fat content

In April 2004, Smucker introduced "Crisco Zero Grams Trans Fat Per Serving All-Vegetable Shortening," which contained fully hydrogenated palm oil blended with liquid vegetable oils to yield a shortening much like the original Crisco. As of January 24, 2007, all Crisco shortening products have been reformulated to contain less than one gram of trans fat per serving. The separately marketed trans-fat free version introduced in 2004 was discontinued. Crisco now consists of a blend of soybean oil, fully hydrogenated cottonseed oil, and partially hydrogenated soybean and cottonseed oils. According to the product information label, one 12 g serving of Crisco contains 3 g of saturated fat, 0g of trans fat, 6 g of polyunsaturated fat, and 2.5 g of monounsaturated fat. It is claimed that this reformulated Crisco has the same cooking properties and flavor as the original version of the product.

According to the FDA, "Food manufacturers are allowed to list amounts of trans fat with less than 0.5 gram (1/2 g) per serving as 0 (zero) on the Nutrition Facts panel."

Controversy

Some nutritionists argue that while the formula has been changed to remove the trans fatty acids, the fully hydrogenated oil used to replace them may not be healthful(you mean healthy). Crisco and similar low trans-fat products are formed by the interesterification of a mixture of fully hydrogenated oils and partially hydrogenated oils. The result is "artificial" insofar as the composition of the resultant triglycerides is random, and may contain combinations of fatty acids not commonly found in nature. A recent study showed that interesterified fat increased volunteers' blood sugar by 20 percent while simultaneously lowering the body's HDL cholesterol.

Since cotton crops are under far less chemical regulation than other crops used specifically for food, many pesticides or chemicals can be used on cotton crops that are illegal for use on food crops. Products derived from cottonseed can enter into the food chain via a legal loophole in the regulation of food and chemicals by the United States Food and Drug Administration, possibly leading to consumption of significantly elevated amounts of pesticides or chemicals.

External links

• Official website
• Harvard School of Public Health's webpage on Trans-fat