When you’re making a gluten-free pie crust or cake, shortening can really come in handy. While you may rely on butter, margarine, or even oil for baking, shortening is an excellent choice for flaky pie crust and cookies and amazing cakes. But is Crisco shortening gluten free?
What Is Crisco?
Crisco shortening was developed in 1911 by Procter & Gamble. The first shortening was made entirely from vegetable oil. After this, the hydrogenation of organic items was discovered. Hydrogenation in liquid form was then patented in 1903 by Wilhelm Normann.
Crisco was mainly developed to harden oils to make them into soap. It got its name Crisco out of ‘crystallized cottonseed oil,’ cottonseed oil being what vegetable oil had been previously called.
To get people on the Crisco shortening trolley, they used marketing to their advantage, giving away free cookbooks where every recipe listed Crisco as an ingredient. Pretty clever stuff! B&G Foods acquired the Crisco brand in 2020.
If you are doing a lot of baking, read all of my articles to find out what baking ingredients are gluten free!
Answer: Is Crisco Gluten Free?
There’s good news for gluten-free bakers: Crisco’s shortening is gluten-free. There are no wheat or gluten ingredients added to Crisco.
However, suppose you are highly sensitive to gluten. In that case, you should know that it is made in a shared facility, so there is a slight possibility of cross-contamination. To ensure you’re avoiding gluten while using shortening, you can try Nutiva Organic Vegan Shortening.
However, most people should be fine using Crisco shortening. It comes in a tub or as sticks that resemble butter. Both formats are gluten-free. The baking sticks may be more helpful, as they are marked with measurements on the outer wrappers, ensuring you get the right amount in your recipes.
Crisco Ingredients:
For both Crisco shortening in the tub and in the sticks, the ingredients are:
- Fully hydrogenated palm oil
- Palm oil
- Soybean oil
- Monoglycerides
- Diglycerides
- TBHQ
- Citric acid
How To Use Crisco Shortening:
You can use Crisco shortening when baking. You cut the shortening and add it to your gluten-free flour. The smaller the piece, the flakier the result. Crisco shortening will help you create the perfect gluten-free pie crust to indulge your pie cravings.
It’s also handy for frying. Put it in a heavy frying pan with high sides and let it melt until it reaches your desired temperature. It can help you fry anything into a golden brown hue. Make sure your coating is gluten-free, and you’ll be good to go!
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