Was Crisco really that popular in 1963? It was used to fry chicken and I assume to make the pie crusts for the chocolate pie but I always imagined lard to be the cooking fat of choice in the early 1960s (at least it was here in the UK)
I know Crisco was invented in 1911 but was it really that popular compared to lard or even butter?
Mrs Voorhees is watching you!
Comercial consumerism was big post-war in the states. It was completely within the times.
To be modern, these women (regardless of skin color) had to consume the right brand names. They were proving that they were American.
Yes Crisco was very popular back then. I remember my mother using it at times.
shareMy mom fried with Crisco (when she fried at all, which wasn't often, us not being from the South) but I remember it was always in our home; we used it to bake cookies instead of butter, and we always used it to grease and flour cake pans (thank God for Baker's Secret, it was always MY job to grease and flour the pans!)
When I do my baking, I cream Crisco and butter together. Using all butter might make for a lighter, flakier cookie, but it also makes them tend to burn more easily and definitely crumble quite easily. Using half and half butter-flavored Crisco and butter makes a stronger cookie (especially sugar cookies, that once cooled and frozen, I frost & decorate at Christmas. All that handling makes sugar cookies made with all butter crumble while frosting and decorating).
When I was a child in the 80's, my mom swore by Crisco for a lot of her cooking and to use for other purposes.
Her reason was because her mom did and her mother before. So in my family, it was quite popular.
But wonder if it is more of a Southern thing. We live in Tennessee.
I am first generation in my family to not use it for cooking. Just know too much now about health and diet. But sometimes when I want some comfort food, I will get some Crisco, and fry some French fries, just swimming in it (but not too often). Lol
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It was still real popular in the early 60's esp in the South
shareI'm just guessing, but maybe it was because the movie characters all lived in the city of Jackson, whereas rural Mississippians (who raised hogs) would have used lard? Although you could/can buy lard in grocery stores.
To me, the Crisco bit seemed a like product placement. I read the book but don't remember if that was in there. What I mainly remember from Minnie and Celia's relationship is that it wasn't like it was presented in the movie, i.e., the bond. Minnie was pretty churlish about Celia until near the end (of the book).
During WWII we were unable to import coconut/palm oil from the south Pacific nations and vegetable oil was invented.
Capitalism required us to exploit its usefulness so the production of coconut/palm oil dwindled.
We always had lard (makes the BEST pie dough) but storage of lard requires refrigeration which is expensive so you had to use it fast or it would spoil.
Crisco is also Kosher which is also a selling point.