Today in Technology History
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August 15
Today, Crisco turns 90 years old.
Crisco, of course, is a brand of shortening -- solid, creamy, white fat that is used for cooking and baking. In particular, Crisco and other shortenings are used to make baked goods light and flaky.
On August 15, 1911, Crisco was introduced by the Procter & Gamble Company as an alternative to butter and fats derived from animals. While other cooking fats could be expensive, Crisco was cheap because it was derived entirely from vegetable oils (soybean and cottonseed). In fact, Crisco was the first shortening made out of only vegetable oils.
The process for turning oil into shortening is called "hydrogenation" which, as its name suggests, involves adding hydrogen. Under intense pressure, hydrogen is combined with liquid oils, and a solid fat is the result. The process is stopped when the fatty substance is only partially hydrogenated; if it were completely saturated with hydrogen, it would turn uselessly hard.
Hydrogenation was still quite new back in 1911 -- in fact, a 1912 Nobel Prize was awarded for research in that area -- but today it's easy to lose sight of the fact that Crisco was not just a useful ingredient for recipes: it was cutting-edge technology. Indeed, it was first marketed as "a scientific discovery which will affect every kitchen in America."
Over the past 90 years, Crisco has indeed become a standard ingredient in countless kitchens, although recent decades have brought serious health worries -- including concerns about cholesterol.
Related links:
Click here to read about the history of Crisco.
Click here to see a timeline of Crisco history, from the official Web site.
Click here to learn more about hydrogenation.
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