Okay, so the other day I was rummaging through my pantry, getting ready to do some baking. Needed some fat, and my go-to for certain recipes has always been Crisco. But not the shortening this time, I grabbed the bottle of Crisco Vegetable Oil. Been sitting there for a while, honestly.
As I held the bottle, I had one of those moments, you know? Where you suddenly think, “What am I actually using here?” I mean, it says “Vegetable Oil,” which sounds straightforward, but which vegetables exactly? My curiosity got the better of me, so I decided right then and there to actually figure it out.
First thing I did was turn that plastic bottle around. Looked for the ingredients list. It’s usually tucked away in small print, and yeah, there it was. Had to grab my reading glasses – the print isn’t getting any bigger these days!
So, I started reading. It wasn’t a super long list, which I guess is a good sign sometimes. Here’s what I jotted down from my bottle:
What I Found Inside:
- Soybean Oil: This seemed to be the main player. The big headliner.
- TBHQ: I remembered seeing this before on other stuff. Pretty sure it’s there to keep the oil from going bad quickly, like a preservative.
- Dimethylpolysiloxane: Now this one was a mouthful! Took me a second to sound it out. From what I understand, it’s mostly to stop the oil from foaming up too much when it gets hot, like in a fryer.
So, mostly soybean oil. That kind of made sense, soybeans are everywhere. The other two ingredients sounded a bit more industrial, but I figure they’re in pretty small amounts and have a specific job to do – keeping the oil usable for cooking.
It wasn’t some big shocking discovery, really. Just plain old soybean oil with a couple of extras to help it perform better. But the whole process of just stopping, looking, and reading the label felt… well, practical. Like doing my own little investigation right there in my kitchen.
It made me think about how often we just grab things off the shelf without a second thought. Taking that minute to actually read what’s in it was kind of grounding. Didn’t stop me from using the oil, mind you, but now I feel like I know exactly what I’m pouring into my mixing bowl. Just a small thing, but it felt good to do.
