Palm shortening sounds bad. Technically, it’s a vegetable shortening and haven’t we all been told over and over to avoid those at all costs? Yes, but palm shortening is different.
More to the Story
While your standard vegetable oils have been hydrogenated to make them shelf stable, there’s no need to hydrogenate palm oil to make shortening. Granted, some companies may hydrogenate it anyway, so just be sure to do a little research into your sources before putting palm shortening in everything.
A Stable Fat
That said, as long as it’s non-hydrogenated, there’s no reason not to use palm shortening anywhere you would use butter or coconut oil. It’s a highly stable fat that’s composed almost entirely of saturated and monounsaturated fats. This helps keep it stable, not only on the shelf, but in cooking and baking.
