The two suggested names for the vegetable shortening - Krispo (the wordcrisp combined with the then popular suffix -o) and Cryst (anonomatopoeia for the hissing and crackling sound foods make while beingfried) - were combined to form the unique hybrid Crisco.

In 1837, candlemaker William Procter and soapmaker James Gamble mergedtheir small Cincinnati businesses, creating Procter & Gamble. By 1859,P&G had become one of the largest companies in Cincinnati, with sales of$1 million. In 1879, the company introduced Ivory, a floating soap.Procter & Gamble introduced Crisco, the first mass-marketed, one hundredpercent vegetable shortening, in 1911.

The first cans of Crisco came with an eight-page circular cookbook cutto fit the lid. Starting in 1913, Procter & Gamble sent six homeeconomists across the country to give week-long demonstrations(advertised as "cooking schools") to show homemakers how to get betterresults by using Crisco in their cooking. After the demonstrations, thehome economists would hand out souvenir baskets of various food samples,a one-and-a-half pound can of Crisco, and a special Crisco cookbook tothe eager audiences.

The first Crisco cookbook, printed in 1911 and titled "Tested CriscoRecipes," has been followed through the years by more than sixty Criscocookbooks.

Cooking experts from the Ladies' Home Journal and other women'smagazines worked out Crisco's early cookbooks and tested the recipes intheir magazines' kitchens. In 1923, Procter & Gamble set up its ownkitchen in Cincinnati to create and test recipes.

Procter & Gamble's first three radio network programs in 1923consisted entirely of cake and cookie recipes for Crisco.

Crisco All-Vegetable Shortening will easily glide out of a bowl ormeasuring cup that was previously used to beat or measure eggs.

Procter & Gamble advertising innovations included sponsorship ofdaytime dramas, the first being The Puddle Family, a 1932 radio show.

Although Crisco appears solid, it actually contains over 80 percentliquid oil. The oil is suspended in the lattice of fat solids much likehoney is held in a honeycomb.

[ 10-06-2001: Message edited by: gillyharold ]

[ 10-06-2001: Message edited by: gillyharold ]

Any idea what the very first P&G product marketed for sale was?

Ivory soap I believe 1897.