Hard Fats

When making foods for the public, certain fats tend to be more stable and offer better mouth feel in some products, often the desired fats are "hard" fats. By that, I mean those that are solid at room temperature. Hard fats can be synthesized from liquid oils by adding hydrogen as you cook the oil. The problem with this is that our bodies can't readily process these hydrogenated oils, so they tend to build up in our bodies. Recently the government has required the disclosure of hydrogenated oils on the nutrition data labels. This is a positive step. We should all insist on natural oils or fats in our food. Simply put, DON'T BUY FOODS CONTAINING HYDROGENATED OIL!

There are natural fats that will do the required things that the food chemists need, though they may be a bit more expensive and may result in a shorter shelf life. Can you live with crackers that will last 90 days well after opening (rather than a year)? If so, then oils like coconut oil (much maligned in the 1980's) or lard (another "bad" food that probably isn't as bad as it was described) can likely be used. Also, plastics and nitrogen packing can keep virtually all food breakdown from starting until the package is opened.

I had intended to make this post for a while, but an amusing ad for lard was posted by G.R. Hamm on his Twice The Man blog, please check it out here.