Sunday, July 1, 2012

Tropical Traditions Palm Shortening

I am a huge fan of Tropical Traditions Coconut Oil. We have been frying with it, baking and substituting butter and oils, and using it as a coating. I've been using it so much while baking, I've been wanting to ration it for other uses- esp frying. Tropical Traditions recommended that I try their Organic Palm Shortening, so they sent me a gallon to review.
 Palm Shortening is derived from palm oil with most of the unsaturated fat being removed giving it a firm texture with high melting point. Palm Shortening is trans-fat free and is not hydrogenisedThe Topical Traditions Palm Shortening comes in a gallon or 33 pound size. It has a long shelf life and does not spoil. You can use it for baking, frying, deep frying, shortening, and margarine's. 
Palm Shortening does have 6g of saturated fat which has been considered a bad fat for many years. The thing is there hasn't been any proof that saturated fat can cause heart disease or put you at risk for a heart attack. In fact, many nutritionists who argue this theory don't take into consideration that other countries eat mainly a saturated fat diet and have no heart disease.  Here is a great article going into detail about saturated fat and why its not really that bad for you. You do however want to avoid hydrogenated oils and trans fatty oils. I like that there is 0 cholesterol in the Palm Shortening and it is only 110 calories. 

E enjoys her vegetables raw or fried. Zucchini is one of my personal favs and neither of us enjoy the raw texture. So I decided to use the organic Palm Shortening and make some zucchini chips for dinner. Check out how they turned out!



We used a panko/all purpose flour breading. They only took 7 minutes to cook over medium heat and were super crispy! The oil heated quickly and didn't burn when cooked over medium heat. There was no added taste unlike the coconut oil. I've really enjoyed cooking with the Palm Shortening!

You can get the gallon size Palm Shortening for $40.75 and it is currently on sale for $30.65! Be sure to sign up for their newsletter so you can get the latest deals.

*I was sent the product to review for free and under no obligation. These are my thoughts, results, and opinions. 



3 comments:

  1. Thanks for this review. Does the oil taste rancid after frying/baking since there is 2g of polyunsaturated fat? I bought palm shortening from another company and it did taste rancid after baking with it.

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  2. It did not taste rancid. I only use the oil once and then discard.

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  3. what does the oil taste like raw? Could you use it as a butter substitute

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