Margarine (classic) is a mixture of vegetable and animal fats subject to hydrogenation.
For the most part, a rather dangerous and non-vegetarian product containing trans isomers. They increase the level of cholesterol in the blood, disrupt the functioning of cell membranes, contribute to the development of vascular diseases and impotence.
Daily consumption of 40g of margarine increases the risk of heart attack by 50%!
Now produce and purely vegetable margarine. Most often they are used to prepare various types of puff pastry.
Margarine is found mainly in three types: 1. Margarine is a hard, usually uncolored margarine for cooking or baking, with a high content of animal fat. 2. “Traditional” margarines for spreading on toast with a relatively high percentage of saturated fat. Made from animal fat or vegetable oil. 3. Margarines high in mono- or poly-unsaturated fats. Made from safflower (Carthamus tinctorius), sunflower, soybean, cottonseed or olive oil, they are considered healthier than butter or other types of margarine.
Many of today’s popular “smudges” are a mixture of margarine and butter, something that has long been illegal in the US and Australia, among other countries. These products were created to combine the characteristics of low price and easy-to-spread artificial butter with the taste of the real thing.
Oils, during the manufacture of margarine, in addition to hydrogenation, are also subjected to thermal action in the presence of a catalyst. All this entails the appearance of trans fats and the isomerization of natural cis fatty acids. Which, of course, negatively affects our bodies.
Often margarine is made with non-vegetarian additives, emulsifiers, animal fats… It is very difficult to determine where margarine is vegetarian and where it is not.