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Shortening is a semisolid fat used in food preparation, especially baked goods, and is so called because it inhibits the formation of long gluten strands in wheat-based doughs, giving them a "short" texture (as in shortbread). 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, such as butter, lard, or margarine, but as used in recipes it refers to a hydrogenated vegetable oil that is solid at room temperature. Shortening has a higher smoke point than butter and margarine, and it has 100% fat content, compared to 80% for butter and margarine.

Crisco, a popular brand, was first produced in 1911. In Ireland and the UK Cookeen is a popular brand. An industrial food, shortening has many advantages. While similar in some ways to butter or lard, it can today be made at a much lower cost. (Originally, lard was far cheaper and edible oils came at a higher cost). Shortening also needs no refrigeration, which further lowers its costs and increases its convenience. As a substitute for butter, it can lengthen the shelf life of baked goods and other foods. With these advantages, shortening gained popularity, as food increasingly became characterized by industrial capitalist production. Vast surpluses of cottonseed oil, corn oil, and soy beans helped found a market in low-cost shortening.

Available and used worldwide, vegetable shortening is believed to be damaging to human health since it generally contains trans fats in the form of partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. After the oils are hydrogenated they become solid at room temperature, but the type of trans fat generated in this process has adverse health effects. Shortening containing no trans fats has grown in usage, notably with the 2007 reformulation of Crisco such that it contains less than 1g of trans fat per 12g serving. Cookeen was reformulated in autumn 2006 to remove the trans fats^[1]. Non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening can be made from palm oil.

1. ^ The Guardian: Grease is the Word, Guardian Unlimited, 27 September 2006

• William Shurtleff and Akiko Aoyagi, 2007. "History of Soy Oil Shortening: A Special Report on The History of Soy Oil, Soybean Meal, & Modern Soy Protein Products," from the unpublished manuscript, History of Soybeans and Soy foods: 1100 B.C. to the 1980s. Lafayette, CA (US): Soyinfo Center.[1]

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