How CRISCO Started

A century ago, lard was in every American pantry and fryer. These days, lard is an insult.

The word lard has become this derogatory term associated with fat and cholesterol.

The story of how Crisco started begins pre-Civil War America when a German chemist E. C. Kayser developed the science of hydrogenation by adding hydrogen atoms to the fatty acid chain (with the aide of Nickel Oxide)…in other words, he took cottonseed oil (which is already a rancid oil and full of free-radicals) and added a metal to it.

This process transformed the liquid cottonseed oil into a solid that resembled lard (strong dyes are added to it to get rid of the ugly grey color…which is now removed by bleach!). This substance was purchased my Proctor and Gamble for the use of making soap and candles….it was NEVER meant to be consumed!

BUT times are tough and Proctor and Gamble wanted to make this product more “marketable” so since it looked like lard, why not sell it as a “healthy” alternative and the price of lard was getting expensive.

Crisco was introduced as a food substance in 1911. A time when wives stayed home and cooked with plenty of butter and lard. Crisco had to convince housewives about the merits of this so-called “food.” P&G’s first ad campaign introduced the shortening as “a healthier alternative to cooking with animal fats. . . and more economical than butter.” With one sentence, P&G had taken on its two closest competitors—lard and butter. Crisco was marketed as cleaner, healthier, easier to digest, more affordable, and more “modern” than lard. Magazines portrayed housewives who used Crisco were better wives and mothers, their houses are free of strong cooking odors and their children were better behaved.

To make their product more marketable, they published and gave away a cookbook. It had everything from breads and soups to desserts and every recipe included Crisco. Not only that, but they started to target the Jewish housewife because it was technically a “kosher” food, yet cooked like butter and could be used with meats. This grabbed the attention of Jews and they quickly jumped onto the advertising.

To give some compassion, no one knew the dangerous consequences of Crisco, partially hydrogenated oils…a.k.a…the trans fatty acids, were bad for us. P&G didn’t know this either, not at first. But when problems like increased cancer, heart disease, infertility, growth and learning problems, started to appear, P&G worked behind the scenes to cover them up. Dr. Fred Mattson worked for P&G and can be blamed for our false belief that animal fats caused heart disease. His influence was so strong that he persuaded the American Heart Association to preach the false gospel of the Lipid Hypothesis. Here is a short video to help explain things further: BIG FAT LIES!

I don’t know about you, but I think butter tastes way better anyway!

TESTIMONY OF THE DAY