Cottolene was a brand of

shortening Shortening is any fat that is a solid at room temperature and used to make crumbly pastry and other food products. Although butter is solid at room temperature and is frequently used in making pastry, the term ''shortening'' seldom refers to bu ...

made of beef

suet Suet is the raw, hard fat of beef, lamb or mutton found around the loins and kidneys. Suet has a melting point of between 45 °C and 50 °C (113 °F and 122 °F) and congelation between 37 °C and 40 °C (98.6&nbs ...

and

cottonseed oil Cottonseed oil is cooking oil from the seeds of cotton plants of various species, mainly ''Gossypium hirsutum'' and ''Gossypium herbaceum'', that are grown for cotton fiber, animal feed, and oil. Cotton seed has a similar structure to other oi ...

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 Lard is a semi-solid white fat product obtained by rendering the fatty tissue of a pig.Lard
entry in the o ...

, and is remembered today for its iconic national ad campaign and the cookbooks that were written to promote its use.

History

Background

The concept for Cottolene emerged as an offshoot of two industries. Cotton seeds were a high oil-content waste product of the cotton industry, and

beef tallow Tallow is a rendered form of beef or mutton fat, primarily made up of triglycerides. In industry, tallow is not strictly defined as beef or mutton fat. In this context, tallow is animal fat that conforms to certain technical criteria, includi ...

was a waste product of the meat-processing industry. N. K. Fairbank Co. of Chicago seized upon this glut and created a product catering to late-19th-century America's 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.)

Development and features

Techniques employing nickel-based alloys used in the isolation and removal of consumable

hydrogenated vegetable oils Hydrogenation is a chemical reaction between molecular hydrogen (H2) and another compound or element, usually in the presence of a catalyst such as nickel, palladium or platinum. The process is commonly employed to reduce or saturate organic c ...

from plants, especially cottonseed, were pioneered by the efforts of Fairbank chemist

James F. Boyce James F. Boyce (November 15, 1868 – June 2, 1935) was an American chemist who worked for the N.K. Fairbank Company of Chicago, a manufacturer of lard, cooking oils, soaps, and detergents. He helped create new washing products such as Gold Du ...

. Incorporating these advances into the limited cooking oils market at the time resulted in the creation of Cottolene, a product containing 90% vegetable fat. This quickly became a popular culinary replacement for cooking butters and lard, substances that had been used in kitchens for centuries and known to be unhealthy. Cottolene imparted no additional strong flavors when used in food preparation, and was marketed as purer and more natural than lard.''Cottolene Ad''
Cottolene Shortening; Vintage Ads; retrieved October 2022 The shortening dominated the vegetable cooking oil market until competitor

Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/consumer hea ...

unveiled

Crisco Crisco is an American brand of shortening that is produced by B%26G Foods. Introduced in June 1911 by Procter & Gamble, it was the first shortening to be made entirely of vegetable oil, originally cottonseed oil. Additional products marketed un ...

in the early-20th-century. 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.

Marketing impact

Cottolene remains in the public consciousness, in part thanks to the lasting impact of its advertising campaign and the accompanying cookbooks it produced. A September 2007 search of the auction website

eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became a ...

revealed 29 separate Cottolene advertisements and tins for sale. At least one Cottolene cookbook, "Fifty-Two Sunday Dinners" by Elizabeth O. Hiller, was reprinted in its entirety in 1981, with all references to Cottolene intact, both in the opening endorsements and the following recipes.Hiller, Elizabeth O.: ''Fifty-Two Sunday Dinners'', Coles Publishing Company, 1981.

References

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External links