How No-Transfat Crisco Is Made

Decorating By SarahJane Updated 4 Jul 2006 , 6:04pm by BlakesCakes

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SarahJane Posted 30 Jun 2006 , 6:39pm
post #1 of 5

THIS IS KIND OF COMPLICATED, BUT THIS IS HOW CRISCO W/ NO TRANSFAT IS MADE AND THEY DO USE FULLY HYDROGENATED OIL BLENDED WITH LIQUID OILTrans fatty acids are made when manufacturers add hydrogen to vegetable oil, in the presence of small amounts of catalyst metals such as nickel, palladium, platinum or cobalt -- in a process described as partial hydrogenation. If the hydrogenation process were allowed to go to completion, there would be no trans fatty acids left, but the resulting material would be too solid for practical use. A claimed exception to this is The J.M. Smucker Company's new trans fat free Crisco which contains the wax-like fully hydrogenated cottonseed oil blended with liquid vegetable oils to yield a shortening much like the previous Crisco which was made from partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. In a natural fatty acid, the hydrogen atoms are usually on the same side of the double bonds of the carbon chain. However, partial hydrogenation reconfigures most of the double bonds that do not become chemically saturated, so that the hydrogen atoms end up on different sides of the chain. This type of configuration is called trans (which means "across" in Latin). The structure of a trans unsaturated chemical bond is shown in the diagram.

Increasing the pressure at which an oil is hydrogenated reduces trans fat formation. Researchers at the United States Department of Agriculture applied 1400 kPa (200 psi) of pressure to soybean oil in a 2-litre vessel while heating it to between 140°C and 170°C. The standard 140 kPa (20 psi) process of hydrogenation produces a product of about 40% trans fat by weight, compared to about 17% using the high pressure method.

Blended with pure soybean oil, the high pressure processed oil produced margarine containing 5 to 6% trans fat which could qualify for a label of zero grams of trans fat. [4]

4 replies
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BlakesCakes Posted 30 Jun 2006 , 10:23pm
post #2 of 5

Thanks for the informative post! No wonder the 0 Trans-Fat Crisco is a bit more expensive than the regular--sounds like a lot of research & "trouble" to get the trans-fat content to such a negligible level. Now if they could just take all of the calories out, too...... icon_rolleyes.gif

Rae

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jmt1714 Posted 30 Jun 2006 , 10:28pm
post #3 of 5

lol.

the thing that I always shake my head at is we are mixing this stuff with butter and sugar - and then we're going to worry about health implications?


Nothing in moderation is going to kill us. I make room in my diet for cake, trans-fat and all.

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donnajf Posted 4 Jul 2006 , 5:12pm
post #4 of 5

SarahJane,

I really appreicate this in depth info.

I just switched from crisco to sweetex. My question is what about good old Sweetex? Is that loaded with T/F?

Thanx. thumbs_up.gifthumbs_up.gif

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BlakesCakes Posted 4 Jul 2006 , 6:04pm
post #5 of 5

I looked around on the internet for awhile and I couldn't find an ingredients list for Sweetex or Alpine High Ratio Shortening, so I can't say for certain that they contain trans fats, but based on what I did find(copied below--bold added by me), I'd bet that they do--because they are, indeed, emulsified shortenings:

Emulsified shortening is made from hydrogenated vegetable oils and has greater emulsifying powers. It is produced for use in cakes with a high sugar content, sometimes called high ratio cakes. This shortening will blend more readily with the liquid ingredients of the cake batter and produce a cake with greater volume and better keeping qualities. But rememer hydrogenated shortenings are a source of trans fats.

Sorry icon_sad.gif
Rae

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