Background

The concept for Cottolene emerged as an offshoot of two industries. Cotton seeds were a high oil-content waste product of the cotton industry, and beef tallow was a waste product of the meat-processing industry. N. K. Fairbank Co. of Chicago seized upon this glut and created a product catering to late-19th-century America's growing infatuation with labor-saving packaged foods for the "dainty" (or "lard-free") diet (according to Dr. Alice Ross, writing in the Journal of Antiques and Collectibles.)^[1]

Development and features

Techniques employing nickel-based alloys used in the isolation and removal of consumable hydrogenated vegetable oils from plants, especially cottonseed, were pioneered by the efforts of Fairbank chemist James F. Boyce. Incorporating these advances into the limited cooking oils market at the time resulted in the creation of Cottolene, a product containing 90% vegetable fat. This quickly became a popular culinary replacement for cooking butters and lard, substances that had been used in kitchens for centuries and known to be unhealthy.^[1]

Cottolene imparted no additional strong flavors when used in food preparation, and was marketed as purer and more natural than lard.^[2] The shortening dominated the vegetable cooking oil market until competitor Procter & Gamble unveiled Crisco in the early-20th-century. Packaged similarly in metal pails—and also marketed with accompanying cookbooks—Crisco was composed entirely of vegetable oils, and became the preferred brand found in many kitchens of the day.^[1]