Talk:Shortening

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Contents 1 Does shortening contain trans fat? 2 Shortening and shortbread 3 DK "effective ban" 4 Short? 5 Solid at room temperature

[edit] Does shortening contain trans fat?

===Disputed text:===bnjnk Despite its world-wide usage and availability, vegetable shortening is very dangerous to human health since it contains trans fats. (All products containing partially hydrogenated oils are dangerous to human health because of their trans fat content). According to many nutritional experts, there is no safe amount of trans fat consumption. --66.245.14.20 2005-11-14 04:39 UTC

I removed unsupported comments concerning shortening being "dangerous". These appear to be little more than opinions and no facts or references were given to support them. The term "dangerous" is in no way scientific, but rather it is an emotional term and does not have a precise definition. Although fats such as shortening may be linked to health problems, this was not explained or supported, so the claim that it is "dangerous" cannot be accepted without explanation of what the term means and how this conclusion was reached. --Trevhj 2005-12-01 12:59 UTC

The post stated that since shortening contains trans fat, it is dangerous to human health. It is well known that trans fat in general is damaging to health - there are hundreds of sources to prove that. So I believe the question here is whether shortening itself contains trans fat, and I believe that it often (although not always) does. The following is referenced from the Wikipedia article on trans fat:

• In the US, snack foods, fried foods, baked goods, salad dressings, and other processed foods are likely to contain trans fats, as are vegetable shortenings and margarines. Laboratory analysis alone can determine the amount. Outside the US, trans fats have been largely phased out of retail margarines and shortenings. US food manufacturers are now also phasing out trans fats, but at present, most US margarines still have more trans fat than butter.

It seems that there are ways to produce shortening without trans fats. This is indicated in the (external) article Trans-Fat Transitions. In light of all of this, I think it will be appropriate to repost the disputed text, with the edit that shortening 'generally' contains trans fats. --ABelani 2005-01-05 03:01 UTC

Since there is no reply, I'm at this time going to repost the previously removed text. --ABelani 2005-01-08 01:22 UTC

[edit] Shortening and shortbread

Shortening says "Shortening can be made from animal fat (lard), but is more commonly a hydrogenated vegetable oil that is solid at room temperature." Shortbread says "Shortbread is so called because of its high fat content, "short" being the abbreviation of "shortening," which is usually butter."

This article seems to imply that "shortbread" get's it's name from being made from hydrogenated vegetable oil. I recently did extensive research on shortbread recipes and most of them say "don't use shortening; use butter". I admit this doesn't prove anything but I think it's safe to say that "shortbread" gets it's name from having a lot of butter which people USED to call "shortening".

Davemenc 04:27, 23 December 2006 (UTC)

I don't see the "problem," you've simply made a false linkage.

 so called because it inhibits the formation of long gluten strands in wheat-based doughs, giving them a "short" texture (as in shortbread

Seems pretty clear to me --Belg4mit 18:15, 15 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] DK "effective ban"

"a move which effectively bans partially hydrogenated oils" how so? You could easily use a catalyst which disfavors cis-trans- isomerization, so how the hell does this result in a shortening ban? (The example catalyst apparently yields only 9% trans fats vs. the 66% favored by conformational energies) --Belg4mit 18:29, 15 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Short?

Quote: shortbread has a short texture ... well, that doesn't explain much, does it? Couldn't we correctly say "crumbly"? Maikel 00:42, 6 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Solid at room temperature

I have changed The term "shortening" can be used more broadly to apply to any fat, such as butter, lard, or margarine, used in baking ... to The term "shortening" can be used more broadly to apply to any fat that is used for baking and which is solid at room temperature ..., and I hope this will be met with all-round approval. Maikel 00:59, 6 September 2007 (UTC) <nowiki>Insert non-formatted text here</nowiki>