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 under the Crisco brand include a

cooking spray Cooking spray is a spray form of an oil as a lubricant, lecithin as an emulsifier, and a propellant such as food-grade alcohol, nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide or propane. Cooking spray is applied to frying pans and other cookware to prevent foo ...

, various

olive oil Olive oil is a liquid fat obtained from olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea''; family Oleaceae), a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin, produced by pressing whole olives and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking: f ...

s, and other cooking oils, including canola,

corn Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...

, peanut,

sunflower The common sunflower (''Helianthus annuus'') is a large annual forb of the genus ''Helianthus'' grown as a crop for its edible oily seeds. Apart from cooking oil production, it is also used as livestock forage (as a meal or a silage plant), as ...

, and blended oils.

History

The process of the hydrogenation of organic substances in gas form was developed by Paul Sabatier in the late 19th century. Building on James Boyce's 1890s work in the successful development of a consumable solid lard substitute,

Cottolene Cottolene was a brand of shortening made of beef suet and cottonseed oil 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, and is remembe ...

, in the U.S.,The

Holland Evening Sentinel ''The Holland Sentinel'' is a newspaper published seven days a week in Holland, Michigan, United States, founded in 1896. It is published by Gannett. The newspaper covers most of Ottawa County, Michigan, Ottawa County, including Holland, Beechwo ...

; Holland, Michigan; 4 June 1935 (obituary); retrieved June 2010. the liquid form of hydrogenation was perfected and patented by Wilhelm Normann in 1903.Jackson & List (2007)
"Giants of the Past: The Battle Over Hydrogenation (1903–1920)"
''Inform'' 18.

Joseph Crosfield and Sons Joseph Crosfield (5 October 1792 – 16 February 1844) was a businessman who established a soap and chemical manufacturing business in Warrington, which was in the historic county of Lancashire and is now in the ceremonial county of Cheshire. T ...

acquired Normann's patent ostensibly for use in the production of soap. Their chief chemist, Edwin C. Kayser, was hired by Procter & Gamble's business manager,

John Burchenal John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

, and they patented two processes to hydrogenate cottonseed oil. Although their initial intent was to completely harden oils for use as raw material for making soap. these processes ensured that the fat would remain solid at normal storage temperatures and could find use in the food industry. After rejecting the names "Krispo" and "Cryst" (the latter for its obvious religious connotations), Procter & Gamble called the product Crisco, a modification of the phrase "crystallized cottonseed oil". They used advertising techniques that encouraged consumers not to be concerned about ingredients but to trust in a reliable brand. Further success came from the marketing technique of giving away free cookbooks in which every recipe called for Crisco. Crisco vegetable oil was introduced in 1960. In 1976, Procter & Gamble introduced sunflower oil under the trade name Puritan Oil, which was marketed as a lower- cholesterol alternative. In 1988, Puritan Oil was switched to 100% canola oil. In 2002, Procter & Gamble divested the Crisco (oil and shortening) brand, along with Jif peanut butter, in a spinoff to their stockholders; the two brands then immediately

merged Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...

with the

J. M. Smucker Co. The J.M. Smucker Company, also known as Smuckers, is an American manufacturer of food and beverage products. Headquartered in Orrville, Ohio, the company was founded in 1897 as a maker of apple butter. J.M. Smucker currently has three major busi ...

B%26G Foods acquired the Crisco brand in December 2020.

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. From January 24, 2007, all Crisco shortening products were reformulated to contain less than one gram of trans fat per serving; the separately marketed trans fat-free version introduced in 2004 was consequently discontinued. , Crisco consists of a blend of soybean oil, fully hydrogenated

palm oil Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of the oil palms. The oil is used in food manufacturing, in beauty products, and as biofuel. Palm oil accounted for about 33% of global oils produced from ...

, and palm oil. According to the product information label, one 12-g serving of Crisco contains 3.5 g of

saturated fat A saturated fat is a type of fat in which the fatty acid chains have all single bonds. A fat known as a glyceride is made of two kinds of smaller molecules: a short glycerol backbone and fatty acids that each contain a long linear or branched c ...

, 0 g of trans fat, 6 g of

polyunsaturated fat Polyunsaturated fats are fats in which the constituent hydrocarbon chain possesses two or more carbon–carbon double bonds. Polyunsaturated fat can be found mostly in nuts, seeds, fish, seed oils, and oysters. "Unsaturated" refers to the fact tha ...

, and 2.5 g of monounsaturated fat. This reformulated Crisco is claimed to have 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." 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 good for health. Crisco and similar low-trans fat products are formed by the

interesterification In the food industry and biochemistry, interesterification (IE) is a process that rearranges the fatty acids of a fat product, typically a mixture of triglyceride. The process implies breaking and reforming the ester bonds C–O–C that connect ...

of a mixture of fully hydrogenated oils and partially hydrogenated oils. 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%, while simultaneously lowering the body's HDL cholesterol.

Kream Krisp

While Kayser's patents were filed in 1910 and granted in 1915, Hugh Moore, chief chemist for the Berlin Mills Company in

Berlin, New Hampshire Berlin ( ) is a city along the Androscoggin River in Coös County in northern New Hampshire, United States. It is the northernmost city in New Hampshire. The population was 9,425 at the 2020 census, down from 10,051 at the 2010 census. It ...

, filed his patents by 1914 (granted 1914 and 1916). Berlin Mills's vegetable shortening (later trademarked in 1915 as Kream Krisp) appeared on the market in 1914. Procter & Gamble became aware of the competition by February 1915. Burchenal contacted Berlin Mills claiming that they were infringing on P&G's patents and suggested they meet to discuss the issue. When this approach failed, P&G filed suit against Berlin Mills (see ''Berlin Mills Co. v. Procter & Gamble Co.'', 254 U.S. 156 (1920), also known as ''Procter and Gamble vs. the Brown Company''). Procter and Gamble lost the suit, but they bought Kream Krisp in the mid-1920s.

Notes

References

External links