The holidays are around the corner and with that comes cooking and baking special treats, like pies and baked goods. If you grew up on Crisco you may want to know the back story to it and why it is a good reason to stay away from it.
Proctor & Gamble, the makers of Crisco, grew and harvested cotton in the early 1900s and were doing pretty well with it. Cottonseed (a bothersome byproduct of cotton) became so numerous in their operations that they decided to see if there was anything they could make from the cottonseed to make a profit.
They found after intense processing — including heating and pressing — they were able to extract oil from the cottonseed. It cost Proctor & Gamble next to nothing to produce it and yet saw it was an easily rancid and unstable fat. So the process of hydrogenation was added to make the cottonseed oil last a long time. When this oil cooled, it looked exactly like lard.
They called it Crisco.
By 1911 the company decided to expand the market for Crisco and introduced it to American cooks as a more “healthy and digestible substitute for lard or butter.” Although we know that this isn’t true due to the 1.4 grams of trans fat per serving in Crisco and the rise of conditions associated with it with inflammation and disease… People took to it and used it for years.
The Top 5 Reasons to STOP Using Crisco and Use Butter
- Trans fats cause deleterious effects such as heart disease, cancer, stroke, type 2 diabetes and a myriad of other health issues.
- Artificial flavors and preservatives (like BHT) are present in Crisco.
- Butter contains many heart-protecting nutrients like Vitamins A, D, K2, and E, selenium, iodine, and lecithin.
- The Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) found in butter from grass-fed cows has powerful protection against cancer.
- The nutrients found in butter aid in digestion, bone, and thyroid health, as well as growth and development.
Top Reasons to Eat Lard
- The reason why you may have heard that these animal fats are bad is that surveys have shown unhealthy people eat more meat. But a survey is not science. In real science, where an experiment is conducted, it is found that animal fats are not harmful to us. They are actually beneficial.This is why you hear that everyone’s great-grandparents who were farmers and ate pork sausage and butter all their lives lived to be 100. They were too poor to have sugar.
Now that everyone can afford sugar and we are eating less natural foods such as animal fats, we are sicker and our lifespan is decreasing. See this link: Slide-In Life Expectancy For American Men Continues Amid Spike In “Deaths Of Despair”
- The main fat in lard (oleic acid) is a fatty acid associated with a decreased risk of depression. A 2005 study from Thailand also reported that oleic acid has high anti-cancer benefits and can decrease your risk of breast cancer. Those same monounsaturated fats are responsible for lowering LDL levels while leaving HDL (“good”) cholesterol levels alone.
- Lard also contains high amounts of Vitamin D, a necessary fat-soluble vitamin. It is estimated that 1 tablespoon of lard contains 1000 IU of Vitamin D!
- Recipes are Better!
Use lard to make crispy fried chicken, make delicious flaky pies, and in cooking simple food like eggs or hash browns. Lard isn’t smelly. It’s divine!
This holiday, consider leaving Crisco behind and using a much better solution for your health and those around you. Happy cooking!
