Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1886-07-07
Eiallu Krrlusbsl 3Durnal.
Cotton Seed Oil in the Kitchen.

| notice in Good Housekeeping many
expressions OF dislike to the use of lard.
Now, while there is nothing nicer OF its
kind than snowy leaf lard, made by the
housewife herself, from the hogs which
she knows to have been BEAUTIFULLY ted
and reared in her own field, it is well
known that the lard of commerce is one
of those manufactured mysteries whose
heart few have the ability to pluck out. 1t
is an imposter-fair enough to see-but
s'take care, it's fooling thee" 1t is q
compound of refuse fats, which the wise
men declare unwholesome. Sometimes it
is part lard and various other something's.
just what they are are known only to the
manufacturers. Even, when by chance.
we get pure lard. what guarantee have
we that the animals that rendered it were
healthy when killed?
| hear some aver that they never use
lard nothing but butter, most likely
cooking butter, an offense to nostril and
palate, not able to escape the reproacha-
BILE ct tn Brute OF its fellow Indicators.
whose place it would hypocritically
usurp,-as long as oleomargarine holds
the balance of power in the kingdom OF
grease. Pure butter is too costly to be
used in cooking, except by the rich, or the
dairy farmers. What, then, shall we use
answer cotton seed oil. 1t is better, purer
and cheaper than either lard or butter.
Its price varies with the price of lard.
but it is always cheaper than lard. 1t
makes fine rolls, biscuits, mullins, corn
bread, gems, batter cakes, tea cafes and
ginger bread. In some of these COM
pounds it renders eggs unnecessary. and
in others where they are indispensable,
lessons the number. AS it boils in low
err degree of heat than the animal fats, it
is pre-emnently fit for frying, and as the
Ffrying pan, notwithstanding the anathema
maraDatha of the hygienists, continues to
be the American escutcheon, it behooves
us to use it wisely-not to burn our food
IN it.
To this end comes cotton seed oil. In
the writer's kitchen, where belief in this
oil is part of the culinary creed, fish, oys-
tiers and croquettes are fried to perfection
in it. Saratoga chips and waters emerge
from their oil plunge the very poetry OF
potatoes-the golden morsels are crunched
with thankfulness. Thus do its works
praise it. Its immunity from burning is
one OF the strongest arguments in its be-
half.
The orthodox Jews, have, for we'll
known sanitary reasons, never used lard
They will have only butter or olive oil.
The Latin races have always been oil
prodigals. They were the first converts
to the cotton seed dispensation. In south
ern Louisiana this oil is largely used for
cooking, and in New Orleans every
grocer keeps it, selling it under its own
name to every housekeeper who values
economy and purity of food stuff.
Food prejudices are hard to conquer,
and the more provincial community, the
sitter necked they are in this respect. 1t
is difficult to persuade them that other
foods than those used by their mothers
and grandmothers are also palatable and
wholesome.
The best cotton seed oil is nearly color
less, tasteless and odorless. but when just
delivered from the press varies much in
tint, smell and odor; and is filtered, clar-
flied and deodorized by the manufacturers.
1t is too cheap to pay to adulterate it. but
| would advise the novice to get good
article, for first attempt made with a
dark, malodorous oil, would be likely to
disgust her forever.
Perhaps the general reader does not
know that the manufacture OF cotton seed
into commercial products is a new Amer
lean industry. A few years ago cotton
seed was despised; now it is one of the
corner stones OF a vast industrial edifice.
Where, a few years ago, the seed was
thrown away or burned in plantation fur
naces. to-day its oil is used for lubrica-
ton, soap-making, cooking and food. Its
albuminoids, gum, sugar, cellulose and
starch, make fine meal cake for ami.
mails. From its waste products the chem
list obtains ammonia and salts of phosphor.
ic acid and the manufacturer good
paper stock. In the South mills re-shiI
the cake, ground into meal, to the plant
ers who furnished the original seed, anG
they fertiize their land with it, making
the faithful servant minister to the want,
of their young crops.-OLIvE LYLE il
Good Housekeeping.