For diehard bakers, Crisco has long been a pantry staple.
While it's not the only vegetable shortening on the market, it's certainly the best-known.
But before you head to the store to stock up on all of the different Crisco products,
you might want to know exactly how they're made.
Crisco's 100-plus year history started as a story of marketing success.
According to a history of the company published on Real Food Houston, Crisco was invented
by Procter & Gamble and was officially introduced in 1911.
William Procter and James Gamble started using hydrogenated cottonseed oil to make P&G's
soap, which gave them the idea to use this artificially-solid oil product in the kitchen.
And that's exactly what the original Crisco was - hydrogenated cottonseed oil.
They were able to convince customers like train lines to use it in place of lard, and
they recruited doctors and rabbis for product testimonials, saying it was a healthier and
kosher product that could replace lard and butter in baking and frying.
Butter is naturally solid at room temperature due to its saturated fats.
Lard is the same, as are oils with a higher saturated fat content, like coconut oil.
But other oils, like olive oil, grapeseed oil, sunflower seed oil, and soybean oil are
all liquid, all the time.
An article on Healthline explains that their unsaturated fats lack the hydrogen molecule
necessary to render them solid or semi-solid at room temperature.
When hydrogen molecules are added to these oils during processing, they become solid
or semi-solid at room temperature, making them more spreadable, as with Crisco or margarine.
Procter & Gamble, with the help of a chemist, came up with this hydrogenation process in
the early 1900s, and according to an article written by Meghan Telpner, Crisco was the
first-ever food product to include these partially-hydrogenated oils.
So when the early Crisco ads touted "the absolutely new product," they weren't lying.
Have you ever heard of lettuce oil?
Or cucumber oil?
Of course not.
As pointed out by nutritionist and founder of the Academy of Culinary Nutrition, Meghan
Telpner, oils are derived from grains, like corn oil, fruits, like avocado, olive, and
coconut oils, and seeds, like flaxseed oil.
So why would Crisco claim to be "vegetable" oil and shortening on their packaging?
It's not entirely clear, but it could be a sign of the times - in the early 1900s when
the oil was introduced, there might have been less differentiation between types of plant-derived
foods, like grains and vegetables.
Think about it - many people still think of corn and avocados as vegetables, right?
So it may be as simple as semantics.
The other possibility is a form of marketing that Telpner refers to as "health-washing."
The idea is that if you put a health claim in big, bold letters on the front of food
packaging, people may be more inclined to think the product is good for them and be
more inclined to buy it.
So if early Crisco marketers were trying to influence people's perception of the fat as
being a healthier option than butter or lard, using the words "all-vegetable shortening"
on the front of the packaging was a smart call.
Cottonseed oil isn't commonly found on grocery store shelves, although as Healthline points
out, it's often found in processed foods, like cookies, because it can extend shelf life.
The article in Healthline also notes that in order to meet regulations for use as a
food product, cottonseed oil has to go through refinement, bleaching, and deodorization to
remove gossypol- a toxic compound.
This toxic compound must be removed because it's been linked to infertility, pregnancy
problems, liver damage, and respiratory distress.
Unrefined cottonseed oil, the oil with gossypol, has even been used as a pesticide.
In other words, it's not something you want to put in your body.
When P&G developed their hydrogenation method to start making bar soap from liquid oils
rather than lard, they also decided to put it into use in the kitchen.
The Weston A. Price Foundation explains that because P&G was already using cottonseed oil
for its soaps, it made sense to continue using this form of oil.
Unfortunately for everyone who jumped on the "hydrogenized oils as health products" bandwagon,
time and science started to uncover a nasty truth — eating lots of hydrogenated oils
isn't as good for you as Crisco and other companies would have you believe.
In 2002, P&G sold Crisco to the J.M. Smucker Company and the formula was changed in 2007 according to Fox News.
“Great chicken.”
“No greasy oily taste.”
At just about the same time as P&G was divesting itself of its 90-year old Crisco brand, more
and more evidence was building that the consumption of hydrogenated oils wasn't all that healthy.
In fact, according to a 2012 NPR article on the history of Crisco, the qualities that
made hydrogenation so appealing to companies and consumers - for instance, making liquid
oils solid and spreadable, increasing shelf-life, and enhancing baking and frying capabilities
- all depended on the creation of trans fats.
Initially, these fats were thought to be heart-healthier than saturated fats because they were a form
of mono- and poly-unsaturated fats, rather than the saturated fats found in lard, butter, or coconut oil.
But, in the mid-1990s, studies started indicating that trans fats increased forms of artery-clogging cholesterol.
An article in Healthline details that high consumption of trans fats can lead to increases
in inflammation, impair blood sugar control, and harm heart health.
In 2015, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration started the process of removing artificial
trans fats from processed foods.
In response, Crisco changed its formula, and now the classic Crisco shortening is made
of soybean oil, fully hydrogenated palm oil, and other additives.
Numerous studies have found that trans fats are bad for heart health and the FDA has effectively
banned the addition of artificial trans fats to processed foods.
Plus, Crisco is still available for purchase at grocery stores nationwide.
So basic logic should determine that Crisco doesn't have trans fats, right?
Especially since they put that there are zero grams of trans fats per serving right there on the can.
Oh, if only you could trust food marketers.
Or the FDA.
As pointed out in an article published on NPR's website, the FDA allows foods that contain
less than 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving to claim the food contains zero grams of this fat.
And the FDA's own website states:
"It's important to note that trans fat will not be completely gone from foods because
it occurs naturally in small amounts in meat and dairy products, and is present at very
low levels in other edible oils."
“Mom, this is delicious.”
“Too delicious.
This is fried in trans fat!”
So if Crisco can list 0 grams of trans fats on its label, and the FDA admits there's this
loophole for companies to do so, even if a product has small amounts of trans fats, how
can you know if Crisco has trans fats?
Look at the ingredients listed on Crisco's own website - it's clear that Crisco still
uses hydrogenated oil as an ingredient which is one of the surefire ways to know whether
a product contains trace amounts of trans fats.
One thing to keep in mind is that Crisco is a brand, not a single product.
According to the Crisco website, what started out as a company featuring a single tub of
vegetable shortening, slowly expanded in the 1980s and 1990s, adding easy-to-measure vegetable
shortening sticks, followed by the addition of butter-flavored shortening.
In 2002, even more products were added to the brand's lineup.
These new additions included oils, sprays, and organic coconut oil, all designed to help
Crisco hold onto its market share of baking oils.
Crisco's line of vegetable shortening includes four total products - the original shortening,
original shortening packaged as sticks, and butter-flavored shortening, as well as butter-flavored sticks.
While the butter-flavored version has a slightly different list of ingredients than the original
version, there are really only two different forms of shortening - original, or butter-flavored.
Both versions are made from soybean oil, fully hydrogenated palm oil, palm oil, mono and
diglycerides, TBHQ, and citric acid.
All-in-all, soybean oil and palm oil are types of vegetable oils that, when consumed in moderation,
are unlikely to cause major harm.
The catch, of course, is consuming highly processed fats, and hydrogenated fats, as
this processing creates trans fats and can strip all other nutrients from these oils.
Part of the reason you know these shortenings are processed is in the addition of mono-
and diglycerides, which help create a better texture for margarine.
You should also be aware of the addition of TBHQ.
A Healthline article notes that this additive helps extend shelf life, but it's highly controversial
because it's been linked to health problems, like liver enlargement, increased incidence
of tumors, convulsions, and paralysis in lab animals.
Granted, the FDA limits how much can be used, and in the case of TBHQ, no more than 0.02
percent can be present in food.
So, word to the wise, it's in Crisco.
"What are you doing?
That's Crisco!"
Crisco's line of liquid oils is actually more extensive than its shortenings, with seven separate products.
In general, products that are 100 percent "vegetable oil" are a better option than more
processed fat products, like shortening.
In the case of Crisco oils, consider the following:
Crisco's 100 percent oils include Pure Canola Oil, Pure Vegetable Oil, Pure Corn Oil, and its Blends Oil.
While all of these are plant-derived fats, and most are considered good cooking oils,
keep a few things in mind.
First, according to an article on Healthline most inexpensive vegetable oils are derived
from genetically modified plants.
Second, according to another Healthline article, because it requires a lot of processing to
extract oil from these grains and seeds, they're more likely to oxidize and become unstable, or rancid.
Finally, oils like corn oil are high in omega-6 fatty acids which are linked with increased inflammation.
Both Crisco's Peanut Oil and Frying Oil Blends are designed to be good for frying, but they
include additives, like TBHQ, which as discussed previously, may be linked to health problems.
As for its canola oil, they add in omega-3s, making it arguably a more heart-healthy option.
But a word to the wise, this oil comes with a warning: It will catch fire if overheated.
Crisco offers a five-product line of cooking sprays.
These sprays are highly-pressurized canisters of various types of vegetable oil that also
all include a few undesirable ingredients.
For most people, soy lecithin is a benign food additive used as a lubricant.
In this case, to help prevent sticking.
According to Healthline, it's usually added in such small amounts it's unlikely to cause problems.
That said, if you have a severe soy allergy, talk to your doctor about using products that contain it.
According to Chosen Foods, dimethyl silicone, an anti-foaming agent, may be harmless in
small amounts, but it hasn't been researched extensively, and it's unclear if there could
be negative health effects.
One thing to keep in mind?
It's also included in things like cosmetics and textile finishing products.
Obviously, to spray a cooking oil, you need something to encourage this release from its pressurized can.
It's unclear what type of propellant Crisco uses, but according to Chosen Foods, common
choices include nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide, propane, n-butane, or isobutane.
So yeah, it's up to you whether you want a quick spray of propane in your foods.
Coconut oil is one of those oils that for years was vilified for being high in saturated fat content.
But, as science mounted in the 2000s, indicating that plant-based saturated fats, like coconut
oil, might not be as heart-unhealthy as previously thought, coconut oil made a comeback.
According to Healthline, one thing that differentiates the saturated fats in coconut oil from saturated
fats in animal fats is that most of these saturated fats are considered medium-chain
fatty acids, rather than long-chain fatty acids.
Medium-chain fatty acids seem to boost heart health, rather than hurting it.
For instance, lauric acid, which accounts for 42 percent of coconut oil, has a positive
effect on increasing HDL, good, cholesterol.
Stearic acid, also found in coconut oil, can help lower LDL, bad cholesterol, and doesn't
appear to have a negative effect on heart health.
And finally, capric acid, which is about 4 percent of coconut oil, is rapidly metabolized,
has been linked to weight loss, increased insulin sensitivity, and antiseizure effects.
To be clear, more research still needs to be done.
But early headlines pushing coconut oil as a heart-healthy option had companies clamoring
to add coconut oil to their line of products.
Crisco was no different, and now sells two types: Refined Organic and Unrefined Organic.
The main difference is the refined version has been processed to eliminate the coconut
flavor and smell from the oil.
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