WHY CRISCO?

Slow learners learn certain things slowly by making the same mistake from time to time and only eventually learning not to 

make the mistake. Thus I am typing this for the third time having not yet learned to always save text while looking for other information.

Crisco was the first shortening to be made entirely from vegetable oil. Interestingly, many Americans still think it is or was made from lard and refer to it as "Crisco lard". Crisco was introduced in 1911 by William Procter & James Gamble. They hired Edwin C. Kayser, a chemist, to develop the process to hydrogenate cottonseed oil, which ensured that it would remain solid at normal storage temperatures. Their initial purpose for the substance was for making candles, but when electricity began to cut into the candle market, and since the product looked like lard, they began selling it as a food. The name Crisco came from the initial sounds of "crystallized cottonseed oil".

Crisco now consists of a blend of soybean oil, fully hydrogenated cottonseed oil, and partially hydrogenated soybean and cottonseed oils. All Crisco is trans fat free and a separate trans fat free product was introduced in a green can in 2004 but was a dismal failure. Market recognition would not allow Crisco to succeed in a "green" can. 

In 2002 Procter & Gamble divested the Crisco brand to their stockholders who merged with The J. M Smucker Co. 

I began using Crisco for skin purposes in the late 1990s after reading about it in a dermatology "throw-away" journal. The dermatologist had been giving his patients small white tubes of ointment and they would return asking for another tube of the miracle ointment. Only then would he divulge that the tubes contained Crisco. I subsequently began using it on baby diaper areas and later on my own dry face as a moisturizer. Further uses have followed: excellent, inexpensive moisturizer for "whimpy blue-eyed" dry skin (like mine) or eczema; good for repairing sun fried forehead after failing to use sunscreen on an overcast day (gets rid of the red and doesn't peel); useful in wound healing with less scarring (makes removing stitches easier); will remove paint, grease or adhesives from skin.

Other uses found on the internet include:

1. removing lipstick from clothing

2. cleaning ink or markers from hands and vinyl surfaces

3. revitalizing wooden bowls

4. preserving wooden cutting boards

5. polishing rubber galoshes (maybe not in California)

6. making white or colored clown make-up

7. some other stuff about close encounters

Crisco may not work for everyone (like magnets) but for those of us that it does, we love it!