Is margarine a (nasty, evil) hydrogenated fat?

[sassy]

If I am baking I use marge (stork, usually) and congratulate myself for saving £££ and sparing my kids hydrogenated fats in shop biccies, cakes etc.

But it struck me today, marge may well be the very thing I am trying to avoid.

Anyone know?

yes marge is evil

read the back of the Stork - they have to declare hydrogenated fat as an ingredient.

I did this in tesco and can't remember exactly what I discovered, but we now buy (for various purposes) a) butter b) own-brand utterly butterly type and c) own-brand mega low fat olive spread; none of which have trans fats (evil) in.

oh. Cack. Do I need to bake with butter now then?

Update - just looked at the back of the box (ta, Mrs B) and there are

"virtually no trans fatty acid
no hydogenated fats"

is this ok then?

(somewhat alarmed to see there is food colouring in there)

Why use domething that even flies won't eat, something that is one molecule away from plastic
When you can just use lovely yummy healthy butter?

no hydrogenated = good
almost no trans = ok - worth reading packets to see if you can find one with no trans at a similar price
food colouring maybe = bad - if you look up the E number you may find it's something innocuous like caramel

Still have the 'high cholesterol-artery-clogging'msg of the 80s in my head somewhere - thus marge, not butter. But you're right Piffle.

Ta for help. Butter next time!

I use the basic Sainsbury's or Tesco own brand butter for baking - it's 53p for a block, so only 26p worth for a large sponge cake, say. And butter actually creates a much better flavour.
Much much nicer.

Good tip, Blu.

because butter is expensive and high in saturated fat?
Hate loaded terms like 'healthy' - 'yes it's high in salt and saturated fats, but it's squeezed out a cow before processing so it's natural and therefore healthy'.

pmsl at one molecule away from plastic - water is only one neutron away from being poisonous, so stop drinking it and run for the hills!

you buy whatever you like sassy and I will shut up ranting and retreat to my corner

[twitches]

Another vote for butter. Don't trust any of these invented spreads, including ultra-low-fat stuff with olives on the front, and anyway I believe in making my fats count - only eat ones that are actually yummy in themselves

my fav is anchor butter, but recently i've switched to flora with omega 3 oils for my dds. Have i done something wrong? .. i do think my toast is not the same .. but was thinking about the fat content .. :S

Nothing wrong - just each has different charateristics.
Up to you if you value butter (for its minimal processing) over the Flora (for its low saturates and the omega-3s)

yes
i eat butter only

but cholesterol-busting mr poisson eats Mega-Low-Bene-Olive-Flora, n'cest pas?

i do miss butter, grew up on it when i used to put the dish on top of the toaster to melt the rock solid thing! .. don't want to have a heart attack though!!

he eats s hitey benecol
i wont touch it
iff h i wer e him id do wihtout

Only have butter here. Everything else just tastes like poo.

I'm a butter girl too.

Those spread things look too orange for my liking, and they taste like cack.

I'm with you MrsBadger - nothing wrong with spreads if you stick with a low or no trans one. Just don't try to cook with a low fat one - you need at least 60g fat per 100g product for baking - best to go for 70g or more. (Butter is 80g/100g...)

Don't be kidded by the 'natural goodness' arguments bandied about by the Dairy Lobbies - butter is high in saturated fats and cholesterol and is more likley to give you coronary heart disease....

Everything in moderation is my motto. It would be foolinsh to eat too much of any butter/spread anyway, given that it's basically a lump of fat.

butter is loverly. Better to eat fewer cakes etc than bake with marg imho.

We have butter for spreading.

The op was about baking.

Heart disease vs cancer -hmm. Devil or deep blue sea anyone?

if choice of devilish butter or deep blue marg I'd stick to marg purely because I'm lazy and it's easier to cream

of course easy answer is stop making cakes and fob kids off with healthy fruit

Don't put your butter in the fridge - best of both worlds then