The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1890-03-20
Cotton Seed Oil for Cooking.

mUVA 10 ooiA 0ouue euc Nou6Cl tuol
Congress will pass the law iorbidding the
mixture of cotton seed with lard. This,
it is thought, will greatly injure our
Southern product. My own judgment
is, that such action by Congress will
ultimately benefit cotton seed oil, and at
the same time ipjure lard. Ali that is
necessary is for the papers to discuss the
matter fully in its practical bearing, and
then cotton seed oil will stand upon its
merits.
Some years ago read an article writ
ten in New York and published in the
Atlanta Consultation, predicting that the
production of cotton seed oil would ulti.
mately be source of great wealth to the
South, and commencing it for culinary
purposes. The writer stated that the
refined article was preferred in cooking
by some of the wealthiest people North,
over the purest olive oil that they could
secure from abroad. This struck me,
and I soon got quart fol-, trial. Possibly
it was not the best article anyway. Ny
family soon became thoroughly dis
gusted, and the trial proved as usual
with the frst-no trial at all. After q
while it was ascertained that we used it
too freely, measuring somewhat by the
rule Of measuring lard. So about eight
years ago I aecured nicely refined arti-
Gle, with directions how to cook with it.
From that day to this we have had it in
our family, and my children have had it
in their families, and we will never go
back to lard, unless good article of the
oil cannot be secured.
Now Why do not our Southern papers
take up this matter in its proper light,
not in defensive, but an aggressive
spirita Do let Congress pass the law as
q real protection to cotton seen oil. It
should be kept uucomtaminated by the
stuff made from animal fat, subject as it
must be to impurity from every shade of
disease to which the filthy hog is subject.
It is the cotton seed oil, not of the lard,
that should be protected. The testimony
of experts, some of whom have been
manufacturers of lard, before the Con.
gressional committee a. year or two back,
was sufficient to convince any unbiased
mind that hog grease is unclean, and
that the cotton seed oil decidedly i'm:
proves it, and is itself pure srticle.
In my own family we employ it for
everything cooked. It takes so very
much less than lard in quantity, that it
is difficult to get old cooks down to the
right minimum. There is where the
mistake is ofteuest made. It Is far
cheaper than lard, perhaps costing not
much if any more than one third its
price. For. years I have been buying it
by the barrel from the Kentucky Rein
ing Company, in Louisville, but just as
good an article can DOW be procured in
Atlanta. Other families have followed
our example after much distrust, and
now would not for a great deal resume
the use of lard. Suppose our. Southern
Alliance people take up our side of the
question. It will require little deter
mination to make cooks use it, for their
prejudices are remarkably strong in favor
of lard. In convenience, cleanliness,
sweetness, utility and cheapness, our
Southern ladies will find it incompara.
bly, better than lard, whilst our poor peo.
pie will soon realize that it is ablessing
in convenience and economy. A purely
vegetable product, 1t must be much
healthier than animal fat can be-
John C. Winter, in atlanta Constitution.