Margarine Substitutes

"As for butter versus margarine, I trust cows more than chemists." ~ Joan Gussow.

For a lot of reasons, an increasing number of people are choosing to keep a safe distance from margarine. Also referred to as 'oleo', a particular Harvard Medical study that was conducted a few years back reported that if women who consume margarine, would consume an equal amount of butter, then they would be at a reduced risk of deriving heart problems by at least 53%. To add to that, margarine is loaded with artificially created trans fatty acids. Even brands which claim to have '0' grams of trans-fat in their margarine, have at least 500 mg of it. Even that small a portion of trans fatty acids is enough to raise the bad LDL cholesterol levels and lower the good HDL cholesterol, which means that your cardiac health receives major blows from these fatty acids which have nothing good to offer to the body at all. Synthetic TFA is also carcinogenic and boosts cancerous tendencies by a minimum of 5 times.

If one must go into the debate of margarine vs. butter, then one must know that butter also has trans fatty acids called trans-vaccenic acid which in turn is used to make rumenic acid. But these are natural and so they are basically not carcinogenic for the human body. Margarine also affects the human body in the way that it damages the immune and insulin responses of the body and tampers with the breast milk quality of lactating mothers. So, I guess you have all the reasons to shift from margarine to relatively healthier options. So let us find out some safe margarine substitutes.

Substitutes for Margarine

• A good margarine substitute in cookies and cakes is ⅞th cup of vegetable oil with ½ a teaspoon of salt, for every cup of margarine. You can also add a tablespoon of nut milk to ¾th cup of vegetable oil and use it as a margarine replacement in baking. This will give you a nice and creamy dairy taste.
• Also, you can use 1 cup of shortening along with ½ teaspoon salt as a substitute for margarine, even though it usually works the other way round where people choose margarine substitute for shortening. Shortening will give you crispier breads and cookies even though taste will suffer a tad, owing to this substitution.
• Similarly, you can opt for ⅞th cup of lard with ½ a teaspoon salt stirred in to substitute for margarine.
• You can also use an equal amount of organic or even regular butter instead of margarine in recipes for cookies and especially candies. Butter has certain naturally healthy acids that work for the body, which margarine lacks. It will also give you extremely crunchy cookies.
• If you want a nice savoury spread which can stand storage when refrigerated, commingle ⅓rd cup each of flax oil, coconut oil and olive oil, 2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast and ½ a teaspoon each of garlic and onion powder. Season it liberally with chilli flakes, salt and pepper. You can also add herbs like oregano, parsley and celery if you like. Also, try using an equal amount of tahini or sesame paste instead of the olive oil for some variation in taste. Some people even mix half tahini and half olive oil to get ⅓rd cup of the mixture and then add in the other oils, herbs and seasoning.
• Another butter-margarine substitute variation would be blending together equal amounts of molten butter, low-fat yogurt and mayonnaise.
• My family comprises people who are passionate potato and garlic lovers. So, we discovered this awesome dip recipe which doubles as a substitute for margerine. It is vegan-friendly, so hallelujah! You will need to begin by wetting 3 slices of vegan bread with some water and then draining the water out of it. Make sure the breads do not have crusts. Pour in about ½ a cup of olive oil, the juice of 3 - 4 lemons and some salt to taste in a blender. To this add peeled and crushed cloves from an entire garlic, 4 peeled and boiled potatoes along with the squeezed bread. Now blend all the ingredients till smooth and serve with French baguette, some crackers or even vegan pita bread!
• A rather healthy margarine substitute is ½ tablespoon molten butter and ½ tablespoon olive oil for a recipe calling for 1 tablespoon of margarine.
• Those with a major sweet tooth, can opt for this margarine alternative. You can make this spreadable with ⅓rd cup each of agave nectar or dates (dried or puréed), coconut oil, flax oil and sesame paste (tahini) or olive oil or a mixture of the equal parts of both. Blend all in a food processor and refrigerate.
• Another substitute for margarine would be to cube 500 grams of butter into 8 pieces and then placing it into a mixer with 250 ml of walnut or flaxseed oil. Blend the two together in the mixer until uniform and creamy, transfer it to a lidded bowl and then allow it to stand in the fridge for a while. This concoction won't harden even when chilled and you will have 2 cups of ready-to-use margarine substitute.
• Rich in vitamins E and K along with a high content of antioxidants, the health benefits of olive oil in the prevention of cardiovascular problems, breast and colon cancers and the harnessing of diabetes is very well-known. The good news is that it also makes for a fantastic substitute for margarine in baking. All you need to do is place some olive oil in a steel bowl and leave it in the fridge for quite a few days. After some time, you will see that it has become dense and acquired a grease-like consistency. Use this for baking anytime you want and see how it not only maintains texture and taste of the items but also makes them healthier.
• For a super-yum dip, you can mix 6 tablespoons of olive oil with ½ a teaspoon of celery seeds and ¼th teaspoon each of paprika and dried parsley flakes. Season with freshly ground black pepper and some sea salt if you like. It will hook the family when served with rye bread strips.
• A vegan margarine substitute is easily organic Earth Balance. It will give you a very desirable buttery flavor sans any lactose related problems. Also, the Melt® Buttery Spread is a grand option to bake with. It has a tinge of sweetness and a rich, creamy decadent texture.

It is basically the hydrogenation of oils (produced by introducing hydrogen bubbles into vegetable oils to make them solidify at room temperature) to produce an economical margarine, that facilitates the production of harmful trans fatty acids. Given that the Europeans woke up and protested against the marketing of margarine brands saturated through the hydrogenation of oils, non-hydrogenated versions of margarine were launched in Europe long back, which then were marketed in the US. Made by blending together fractionated tropical, mono-saturated oils and polyunsaturated oils and thickened with gelatin, pectin or whey powder, one can easily use this as well as an effective conventional margarine substitute. So, hope I have given you enough options to choose from if you wish to avoid the original mid-nineteenth century French creation, which in sooth is only a single molecule away from being defined as a synthetic item.