The Crisco Kids

 
It’s been a top selling product for years, and we here at Toys 4 Boys are certain that it’s not going anywhere in the near future. If anything, the sale of Crisco seems to be on the rise lately, which is why we are now also offering this item per tray of 12 cans, at the slick price of 80 Euros per tray (since the price per can is 7.50, the clever consumers amongst you can work out how much you save by bulking up on your baking products).
 
In honour of Crisco, here are a couple of things you may not have known about this handy product!
 
 
·         Crisco is actually a type of shortening, which is a common name for any type of fat that remains solid at room temperature, and is generally used for making crumbly pastries (‘short’ being an old-fashioned synonym for crumbly, which only survives now in the name shortening. Ain’t that neat?).
 
·         Although butter & margarine are technically shortenings as well, the term is nowadays almost exclusively applied to hydrogenated vegetable oil. Crisco was the very first shortening to be made entirely of vegetable oil when it came out in 1911.
 
·         The makers of Crisco were originally trying to create a new raw material to make soap. This proved to be a bit of a failure, since even to pre-war standards, the product wasn’t all that appealing to wash with. Not wanting to waste their investment, and thinking ‘eh, it looks like lard’, they decided to market it as food. The rest is history.
 
·         Originally they wanted to name it Cryst, but this was eventually rejected because of religious connotations attached to the name. The name Crisco is a modification of ‘crystallized cottonseed oil’.
 
·         It was not an instant triumph, only being popular amongst Orthodox Jews, since it could be used in any kosher meal. It only gained popularity during the war due to a shortage of lard. It retained its newfound success even after the war was over.
 
·         Although common practice now, Crisco in a stroke of genius revolutionized so-called persuasion advertizing by including a cookbook with every purchase. Naturally, every recipe contained the fledgling product.