Shortening is anyfat that is a solid atroom temperature and is used to makecrumbly pastry and other food products.

The idea of shortening dates back to at least the 18th century, well before the invention of modern, shelf-stablevegetable shortening.^[1] In the earlier centuries,lard was the primary ingredient used to shorten dough.^[2] The reason it is calledshortening is that it makes the resulting food crumbly, or to behave as if it had shortfibers. Solid fat preventscross-linking betweengluten molecules. This cross-linking would give dough elasticity, so it could be stretched into longer pieces.^[2] In pastries such as cake, which should not be elastic, shortening is used to produce the desiredtexture.^[1][2]

Originally shortening was synonymous withlard, but with the invention ofmargarine from beeftallow by FrenchchemistHippolyte Mège-Mouriès in 1869, margarine also came to be included in the term. Since the invention ofhydrogenated vegetable oil in the early 20th century, "shortening" has come almost exclusively to mean hydrogenatedvegetable oil.

Hydrogenation of organic substances was first developed by the FrenchchemistPaul Sabatier in 1897, and in 1901 the German chemistWilhelm Normann developed the hydrogenation of fats, which he patented in 1902.^[3] In 1907, a German chemist,Edwin Cuno Kayser, moved toCincinnati, Ohio, the home town ofsoap manufacturerProcter & Gamble. He had worked for British soap manufacturerJoseph Crosfield and Sons and was well acquainted with Normann's process, as Crosfield and Sons owned the British rights to Normann's patent.^[3] Soon after arriving, Kayser made a business deal with Procter & Gamble, and presented the company with two processes to hydrogenatecottonseed oil, with the intent of creating a raw material forsoap.^[3] Another inventor by the name of Wallace McCaw in Macon, Georgia also played a role in the invention of shortening. In 1905 McCaw patented a process in which he could turn inexpensive and commercially useless cottonseeds into imitation lard and soap.^[4] Later in 1909, Procter & Gamble hired McCaw and purchased his patents along with the patents of other scientists working on partial hydrogenation which later helped in the development of "shortening".^[5] Since the product looked likelard, Procter & Gamble instead began selling it as a vegetable fat for cooking purposes in June 1911, calling it "Crisco", a modification of the phrase "crystallized cottonseed oil".^[3]

While similar to lard, vegetable shortening was much cheaper to produce. Shortening also required norefrigeration, which further lowered its costs and increased its appeal in a time when refrigerators were rare. Shortening was also more neutral in flavor than butter and lard which gave it a unique advantage when cooking.^[6] With these advantages, plus an intensive advertisement campaign by Procter & Gamble, Crisco quickly gained popularity in American households.^[3] The company targeted mothers by presenting shortening as a more economical and cleaner way of preparing meals. Procter & Gamble played into the neutral flavor of shortening as well as the high smoke point. As a result, they claimed that the natural flavors of the meal would shine through and be free of black particles and unruly smells common with other fats.^[7] Procter & Gamble also advertised how economical it was to use shortening, often advertising cheap recipes incorporating shortening to appeal to frugal mothers.^[8] As food production became increasingly industrialized and manufacturers sought low-cost raw materials, the use of vegetable shortening also became common in the food industry. In addition, in the US, government-financed surpluses of cottonseed oil,corn oil, andsoybeans also helped lower the cost of vegetable shortening.^[9]

In the late 1990s, vegetable shortening became the subject of some health concerns due topartially hydrogenated vegetable oils containingtrans fats, a type found only in small amounts in milk and some other natural foods. Trans fats have been linked tocoronary artery disease andother adverse health effects.^[10][11] Beginning in 2004, the US shortening brandCrisco was first reformulated to contain less than one gram of trans fat per serving,^[12] and then, after the US FDA issued a 2018 ban onpartially hydrogenated oils, to a trans-fat-free vegetable shortening made from fully hydrogenatedpalm oil and some soybean oils to improve the texture.^[13][14] Use of palm oil is controversial due to the environmental impact of commercial palm oil production, which is increased by clearingrainforests.^[15] In 2006, UK brand Cookeen was also reformulated to remove trans fats.^[9]

Crisco, owned byThe J.M. Smucker Company since 2002, remains the best-known brand of shortening in the US, nowadays consisting of a blend of partially and fully hydrogenated soybean andpalm oils.^[16] In Ireland and the UK,Trex is a popular brand^{[citation needed]}, while in Australia,Copha is popular, made primarily fromcoconut oil.

Ashort dough is one that is crumbly^[2] or mealy. The opposite of a short dough is a "long" dough, one that stretches.^[2]

Vegetable shortening (or butter, or other solid fats) can produce both types of dough; the difference is in technique. To produce a short dough, which is commonly used fortarts, the shortening is cut into the flour with afood processor, apastry blender, a pair oftable knives,fingers, or other utensil until the resulting mixture has a fine, cornmeal-like texture. For a long dough, the shortening is cut in only until the pea-sized crumbs are formed, or even larger lumps may be included. After cutting in the fat, the liquid (if any) is added and the dough is shaped for baking.

Neither short dough nor long flake dough are considered to becreamed or stirredbatters.

In the most general sense, shortening is a hydrogenated fat, and it is used to make a short dough by physically or mechanically reducing the length of fibers.^[17] Not everything that can shorten dough is necessarily called by the name ofshortening. For example, butter and margarine can be used to shorten dough; however, these are not usually called shortening. Similarly,liquid shortening is a pourable liquid that most home cooks would not recognize as shortening.^[17]

In baking, different shortening products have differentshortening power, or ability to affect a dough's composition. For example, lard has higher shortening power than butter, due to butter's water content.^[17] Similarly, melted vegetable shortening has a higher shortening power than the same vegetable shortening in solid form.^[17]

Modern margarine is made mainly of refinedvegetable oil and water, and may also contain milk.

Vegetable shortening shares many properties with lard: both are semi-solid fats with a highersmoke point than butter and margarine. They contain less water and are thus less prone to splattering, making them safer for frying.Lard and vegetable shortening have a higher fat content, compared to about 80% for butter and margarine.

Specialized cake margarines and shortenings tend to contain a few percent ofmonoglycerides whereas other margarines typically have less. Calledemulsified shortenings orhigh-ratio shortenings, they blend better withhydrophilic ingredients such assugar.^[18][19] A high-ratio shortening is used in cake recipes whose ratio of flour to sugar (by weight) has a higher amount of sugar.^[19]

• Spread (food)

Look upshortening in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• William Shurtleff and Akiko Aoyagi, 2007.History of Soy Oil Shortening: A Special Report on The History of Soy Oil, Soybean Meal, & Modern Soy Protein Products, from the unpublished manuscript,History of Soybeans and Soy foods: 1100 B.C. to the 1980s. Lafayette, California (US): Soyinfo Center.

• Cooking fats

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from January 2021
• Use dmy dates from March 2017