It’s an uncertain world out there; once upon a time doctors told us a few cigarettes a week while pregnant was fine, then we learn that even second-hand smoke can harm a fetus. One day opiates are safe, so go ahead and take them, the next, there’s an addiction epidemic. One day fat is the enemy, the cause of all health troubles, from heart to weight problems, so en masse it’s taken out of food, especially pre-packaged food, and replaced with sugar (because fat is flavor, without it food is lifeless, and sugar became the coating that kept us eating lifeless products.) Margarine, highly processed and manufactured, was touted as healthier than butter. Crisco, they told us, was healthier, too, because it’s low in saturated fat.
What they left out was that the harmful, highly-processed ingredients in a product like Crisco—Soybean Oil, Fully Hydrogenated Palm Oil, Mono and Diglycerides—vastly eclipse any supposed health benefits.
Today, we’re learning how beneficial butter is and has been for centuries.
When it comes to the kitchen especially, when in doubt, go backwards.
An old world, traditional pantry is the healthiest way to nourish your body, mind and because of the delicious foods these ingredients produce, nourish your spirit as well. Below I’m sharing some of the old-fashioned fats I use regularly.