Any store or shop that sells shortening

[amberpatomo]

I want to make a few bakery items that require shortening. I remember last time I was here (about 5 years ago) that no one knew what I was asking for. Maybe Finns don't typically use shortening when baking? any suggestions?

[EP]

What is shortening? According to dictionary it is baking margarin. Is it?

[Jukka Aho]

What is shortening? According to dictionary it is baking margarin. Is it?

Wikipedia to the rescue.

[EP]

OK, I checked Wikipedia. No, I don´t think we have shortening here. At least I have never used it and I don´t remember seeing it either.

[Jukka Aho]

The last time we discussed this was in this thread:

• Vegetable Shortening, Munkkirasva?

[Mook]

What is shortening? According to dictionary it is baking margarin. Is it?

Wikipedia to the rescue.

The guardian articled referenced by this is quite scary: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2006/ ... e_continue

I'm sure that butter is good for all baking...given the right recipe

[jas_rho]

I have used kookosrasva, coconut oil... its harder than shortening but just let it sit out at room temp for long enough and its ok to handle. It's not healthy though

[Jukka Aho]

I’m just wondering if no-one has managed to get it (or even tried to get it) via industrial/pro channels. Maybe you could buy it with the help of the local bakery/confectionery shop, for example? In that old post to that earlier thread, I link to a catalogue of “industrial” bakery supplies... from which it appeared you can get the stuff here; just not from ordinary supermarkets.

You’d need to refer to it by its Finnish name, of course... kovetettu kasvirasva, or paistorasva ... since they probably wouldn’t know the English name for it.

[jtammilehto]

yeah / well please pay attn here / the usual shortening was packed with TRANS/FATS / pls do find a substitute but hopefully it is one they have not blown to high heaven with hydrogen!

[Gregg10]

thanks

[jtammilehto]

Yes / that is why I said WAS

With the latest revival of butter and the low price it carries these days, something tells me no one is going to try to introduce Crisco or similar.

It took centuries to get olive oil introduced

[amberpatomo]

Thanks for your advice and detailed information!! I was quite surprised about how hard it is to find here. I wonder if the FDA or the like refuses to allow it in stores. I have heard that Finland is quite strict with what foods and medicines are sold/available. Is that true?

[jas_rho]

I wonder if the FDA or the like refuses to allow it in stores. I have heard that Finland is quite strict with what foods and medicines are sold/available. Is that true?

Each country has it's own drug administration and food adminstration, of course. Strict? Compared to what/who? It's the Finnish administration.

No, Crisco is not a banned product because I have seen it on the shelves in Finland as I mentioned. Damned expensive because it's an imported food product. It's a product manufactured in the US for the north american market. It's not something consumers want/need outside of that continent.

Obviously some consumers want/need it outside of the continent or it wouldn't come up here as a topic in the forum, and you wouldn't have ever seen it on any shelves anywhere in Finland. Rare? expensive? Yes... but someone pays for it.

To the OP... just find a substitute, there have been many suggestions here and you'll find tons online as well.

[jas_rho]

Obviously some consumers want/need it outside of the continent or it wouldn't come up here as a topic in the forum, and you wouldn't have ever seen it on any shelves anywhere in Finland. Rare? expensive? Yes... but someone pays for it.

When baking German, Swedish, Danish, Russian or Finnish pies or cookies, I've never seen "crisco" as a listed ingredient...always butter or margarine. Grabbing my 1994 published "Purity" and 1990 published "Sunset" baking cookbooks, both published in the US, all the pastry recipes call for lard/Crisco.

Obvioulsy there are migrants abroad (I am one of them) who learned to bake using Crisco and for me, it is the "only" product that gives a flakey crust used in north american berry pies.

The point of my previous post was to point out that it's (Crisco) a product that simply has never been used in traditional baking recipes in other countries. It is a NA product produced in NA.

Try the kookosrasva, it's honestly the closest I have gotten to a crisco crust. There's a heck of a lot more trans-fats but well, you're making a desert so it's obviously not a diet food

[Jukka Aho]

Try the kookosrasva, it's honestly the closest I have gotten to a crisco crust. There's a heck of a lot more trans-fats but well, you're making a desert so it's obviously not a diet food ;)

In this cupcake recipe, and the discussion below it, they suggest mixing kookosrasva (coconut fat) and “Keiju” brand margarine, specifically the variety sold in the dark blue packaging.

Other suggestions given in the comments involve the “Sunnuntai” baking quarks, of which there are three varieties: vanilla, citron, and plain unflavored. The person who suggests these, Alice, insists that they should give similar results for coating/crusting.

By the way, it appears there’s a Finnish name for cupcakes now... which at least some people are using: kuppikakkunen (sg.) : kuppikakkuset (pl.). (kuppi = “a cup”, kakkunen is a diminutive of kakku, “a cake”, which essentially means “a small [cutesy] cake”)