[Sca-cooks] Shortening, was: OOP pastry question

[Tara Sersen Boroson]

> "Shortening," on the other hand, generally means a product _similar_ to
> lard, but with a vegetable base (such as soybean, corn, cottonseed or
> peanut oil), which may or may not be hydrogenated.  Shortenings


I believe shortening is always, by definition, hydrogenated.
Hydrogenation is a process by which a fat that is naturally liquid at
room temperature becomes solid.  Margerine also fits that catagory.  It
extends the shelf life of baked products as compared to using liquid or
animal fats, as well as containing no cholesterol (compared to animal
fats) which appeals to some health-concious people (see rant below.)

-Magdalena

<rant>
Dietary cholesterol has yet to be shown to raise your cholesterol level;
On the other hand, eating trans fatty acids, the *only* source of which
is hydrogenated fats, has been well proven to cause your liver to kick
into overtime and produce much more cholesterol on it's own.  So, if
your concern is cholesterol as opposed to saturated fat, by all means,
eat your lard and butter!  It's health food!  If you're concerned with
both, experiment with using unsaturated liquid fats in your cooking,
like olive oil, walnut oil, flax seed oil, etc.  Obviously won't work
for pastry, but for things like cakes oils seem to work just fine.
</rant>