Six Pounds

An essential ingredient of cookies, cakes and pie crusts, Crisco was created in 1911 and soon became the go-to alternative to pork lard for generations of American cooks. More economical and longer lasting than lard, Crisco also lacked the noticeable pork taste of lard. Its inventor, Proctor & Gamble, coyly concealed Crisco’s main ingredient, cottonseed oil, and instead labeled it as “vegetable shortening.” Within five years, Americans were buying 60 million cans of Crisco annually.