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Hydrogenation
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By Paula Figoni
Published 2003
Check the ingredient labels of fats and oils used in the bakeshop and you will notice that some of them— including many all-purpose shortenings, high-ratio shortenings, margarine, lard, even liquid oils—have been hydrogenated.
Hydrogenation converts unsaturated fatty acids to saturated ones through the addition of hydrogen (Figure 9.8). Fats and oils are hydrogenated by exposing them to hydrogen gas in the presence of high heat, pressure, and a catalyst such as nickel. Catalysts speed up chemical reactions without actually being used up in the reaction. The nickel is removed before the hydrogenated fat is packaged and sold.