I hope this post doesn't offend anyone but I received an old recipe book that belonged to my grandmother today and had to share some of this with you all. Really makes you realize how far we've come! Hope you all enjoy reading it. The book is called "A Calendar of Dinners with 615 Recipes". It was published in 1913. Every single recipe has Crisco in it and there's even a whole chapter about Crisco. By the time you read all this you are convinced that Crisco is a new food group................... >From the book: The Story of Crisco The culinary world is revising its entire cookbook on account of the advent of Crisco, a new and altogether different cooking fat. Many wonder that any product could gain the favor of cooking experts so quickly. A few months after the first package was marketed, practically every grocer of the better class in the United States was supplying women with the new product. This was largely because four classes of people - housewives - chefs - doctors - dietitians - were glad to be shown a product which at once would make for more digestible foods, and more economical foods, and better tasting foods. A Need Anticipated Great foresight was shown in the making of Crisco. The quality, as well as the quantity, of lard was diminishing steadily in the face of a growing population. Prices were rising. "The high-cost-of-living: was an oft-repeated phrase. Also, our country was outgrowing its supply of butter. What was needed, therefore, was not a substitute, but something better than these fats, some product which not only would accomplish as much in cookery, but a great deal more. A Primary Fat It was neither a butter, a "compound' nor a "substitute," but an entirely new product. A primary fat. In 1911 it was named Crisco and placed upon the market. Today you buy this rich, wholesome cream of nutritious food oils in sanitary tins. The "Crisco Process" alone can product this creamy white fat. No one else can manufacture Crisco, because no one else holds the secret of Crisco and because they would have no legal right to make it. Crisco is Crisco, and nothing else. Explanation of "Hidden" Food Flavors When the dainty shadings of taste are over-shadowed by a "lardy" flavor, the true taste of the food itself is lost. We miss the "hidden" or natural taste of the food. Crisco has a peculiar power of bringing out the very best in food flavors. Even the simplest foods are allowed a delicacy of flavor. Fried chicken has a newness of taste not known before. New users should try these simple foods first and later take up the preparation of more elaborate dishes. Crisco contains richer food elements than butter. Keeping Your Parlor and Your Kitchen Strangers Kitchen odors are out of place in the parlor. When frying with Crisco, as before explained, it is not necessary to heat the fat to smoking temperature. Ideal frying is accomplished without bringing Crisco to its smoking point. On the other hand, it is necessary to heat lard "smoking hot" before it is of the proper frying temperature. Remember also that, when lard smokes and fills the house with its strong odor, certain constituents have been changed chemically to those which irritate the sensitive and membranes of the alimentary canal. Other sub chapter names: The Importance of Giving Children Crisco Foods "A Woman can Throw Out More with a Teaspoon Than a Man Can Bring Home in a Wagon" and last but not least........ Brief, Interesting Facts Crisco is being used in an increasing number of the better class hotels, clubs, restaurants, dining cars, ocean liners. Crisco has been demonstrated and explained upon the Chautauqua platform by domestic Science experts, these lectures being a part of the regular course. Crisco has taken the place of butter and lard in a number of hospitals, where purity and digestibility are of vital importance. Crisco is Kosher. Rabbi Margolies of New York, said that the Hebrew Race had been waiting 4000 years for Crisco. It conforms to the strict dietary Laws of the Jews. It is what is known in the Hebrew language as a "parava," or neutral fat. Crisco can be used with both "milchig" and "fleichig" (milk and flesh) foods. Special Kosher packages, bearing the seals of Rabbi Margolies of New York, and Rabbi Lifsitz of Cincinnati, are sold the Jewish trade. But all Crisco is Kosher and all of the same purity. Campers find Crisco helpful in many ways. Hot climates have little effect upon its wholesomeness. Crisco is sold by net weight. You pay only for the Crisco --not the can. Find the net weight of what you have been using. Women have written that they use empty Crisco tins for canning vegetables and fruits, and as receptacles for kitchen and pantry use. THE END Gibson Co. TN Coordinator USGenWeb Project http://www.rootsweb.com/~tngibson Vance Family Association http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~rtr89/Vance