Generally speaking, shortening refers to refined animal and vegetable oils, hydrogenated oils or the mixture of the above oils. It is a solid or liquid oil product with plasticity, emulsification and other functional characteristics, which is processed with or without quenching and kneading. All grease products that give some baked goods a shiny appearance and surface and are used for emulsification, layering and lubrication are shortening. The main difference between shortening and margarine is that shortening contains no water phase and cannot be eaten directly. It is often used to bake food, make cheese or fry food.

Shortening has many functions and we use it in many places. Shortened oil is characterized by strong plasticity and crispness. Shortening oil is used to shape and crisp food and to process cakes and bread.

Shortened oil usually contains hydrogenated vegetable oil, which is trans fat and is very harmful to the body. Shortened oil is transformed from the English word "short", which means that when cookies are processed with this oil, the products can be very crisp, so the oil with this property is called "shortened oil". It refers to refined animal and vegetable oil, hydrogenated oil or the mixture of the above oils and fats, which is solid oil after quenching and kneading, or solid or liquid oil without quenching and kneading. Shortened oil has plasticity, emulsification and other processing characteristics, and is generally not suitable for direct consumption, but is used to process cakes, bread or fried foods, so it must have good processing characteristics. Shortened oils have different properties and production processes.