# vegetable shortening



## Poojagandhi (Aug 18, 2010)

Can someone pls help me with this , 

what is veg shortening ?
I saw crisco as commonly used , is there any alternative to it ?


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## evergreen (Aug 18, 2010)

> what is veg shortening ?
> I saw crisco as commonly used , is there any alternative to it ?



Vegetable shortening is a solid fat commonly used in cooking in place of lard for pie crusts, biscuits, and other baked goods that need a solid, rather than a liquid, fat.  Vegetable shortening consists of hydrogenated vegetable oils--commonly a blend of soybean and cottonseed or soybean and palm or palm kernel oils. Some brands are only hydrogenated soybean oil.  The old formula of Crisco brand shortening was hydrogenated soybean and cottonseed oil.  The new formula is hydrogenated soybean and palm oils.  Shortening comes in a can but some brands have individually wrapped sticks that look like margarine (or butter) for easier measuring.  The stick form may have a different formula from the can formula.  I've seen hydrogenated soybean and cottonseed in the Crisco brand sticks while the can had the new soybean/palm blend.

I hope that helps...you can use soybean oil and palm oil as a substitute for Crisco in recipes you've seen.  I can't tell you the percentage, since I'm trying to find that out myself.  The best thing to do is use a lye calculator and play with the percentages until you get the values in the soap that you would like.


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## Poojagandhi (Aug 18, 2010)

is it equivalent to clarified butter , available at asian stores?


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## evergreen (Aug 18, 2010)

Poojagandhi said:
			
		

> is it equivalent to clarified butter , available at asian stores?




I would say, no, it's not equivalent.  However, if you look at http://www.soapcalc.net/calc/SoapCalcWP.asp for the lye calculator, "ghee" is listed...that's clarified butter.  You can design a recipe to suit the supplies that you have available to you.


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## evergreen (Aug 18, 2010)

Can you get any of the following oils: soybean, palm, coconut oil, and olive?

What about rendered animal fats other than ghee?


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## Poojagandhi (Aug 18, 2010)

oils i can , animal fat no , i dont want to use


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## LadyM (Aug 18, 2010)

I've been using Crisco for some time, but I'd like to stop cross over.
If I switch to soybean/palm or soybean/cottonseed in my recipe .. does anyone know if non hydrogenated will still work out?

What does the hydrogenated aspect of Crisco impart, anyone know?


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## evergreen (Aug 18, 2010)

Poojagandhi said:
			
		

> oils i can , animal fat no , i dont want to use



I don't use animal fats, but I suggested it in case it was what you could get.

You can find plenty of great recipes with the oils I listed and never need shortening.  Here are some veggie recipes:  http://millersoap.com/soapallveg.html 

Be sure to surf through the rest of that site--there are a lot of resources and info.  She has documents for download too:  http://millersoap.com/pdf.html


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## Muzhik (Aug 18, 2010)

LadyM said:
			
		

> I've been using Crisco for some time, but I'd like to stop cross over.
> If I switch to soybean/palm or soybean/cottonseed in my recipe .. does anyone know if non hydrogenated will still work out?
> 
> What does the hydrogenated aspect of Crisco impart, anyone know?



non-hydrogenated solid shortening will still work, with no changes in saponification.  Hydrogenation helps to extend shelf life by making it more difficult for the oils to go rancid.  Once you hit the oil with the lye and saponification begins, the hydrogen bonds break and don't become part of the chemical process.  That's why there's no difference in saponification between hydrogenated and non-hydrogenated oils.


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## soapsmurf (Aug 18, 2010)

Muzhik said:
			
		

> LadyM said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Except that in actual soap making, soap made with hydrogenated soy is less likely/takes longer to get DOS than un-hydrogenated soy oil.  Liquid soybean oil gives many people DOS issues.


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## Muzhik (Aug 19, 2010)

soapsmurf said:
			
		

> Except that in actual soap making, soap made with hydrogenated soy is less likely/takes longer to get DOS than hydrogenated soy oil.  Liquid soybean oil gives many people DOS issues.



DOS = Dreaded Orange Spots?


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## soapsmurf (Aug 19, 2010)

Yes, dreaded orange spots.


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