Do you use Crisco? You have this Macon man to thank

Editor’s note: The following story is part of a feature called Home Grown in which we take a look at the people and products that have made a name for themselves well beyond our Middle Georgia borders.

In the early 1900s, recipes that called lard or butter began calling for a tasteless and odorless ingredient that contained no animal fat.

Crisco, created by Macon cottonseed entrepreneur Wallace McCaw, first landed on shelves of American grocery stores in 1911. The product was made by Procter & Gamble, which had in 1909 bought McCaw’s manufacturing company at Hazel and Fifth streets for $1.4 million to start researching hydrogenation.

McCaw, a native of Mobile, Alabama, had help with chemistry from David Wesson, who would go on to create Wesson Oil. Their mothers were friends.

Though McCaw went on to live in Cincinnati and New York City, where he was vice president for P&G and later for Colgate, he was laid to rest in Rose Hill Cemetery in 1933.

Crisco was the first solidified shortening to stay solid year round, regardless of temperature.

This story was originally published November 17, 2016 at 12:52 PM.