Has anyone ever used plain shortening in stead of Vegetable Oil shortening and is it ok to use plain shortening for buttercream?

plain shortening IS vegetable shortening. What do you think it is?

ditto.

Well to be fair to the OP, there is lard or other shortenings that do have meat products in them.

Agree, but I was always of the understanding that lard is lard and shortening is shortening.

Broccoli is broccoli and green beans are green beans. Just because they are the same color, doesn't make them the same vegetable.

TS, I thought of that too, briefly. But I've never heard lard called shortening or vice versa. Could be a new one for me!

ETA: I'm anxious to find out what kind/brand of shortening doesn't list what it's made from.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Shortening-42-oz/10451501

Here is a think for GV Shortening that says: Prepared From Meat Fats & Vegetable Oils With Mono- And Diglycerides Added; BHA, Propyl Gallate & Citric Acid Added To Help Protect Flavor. U.S. Inspected And Passed By Department Of Agriculture.

Label says 'shortening' not lard on it. Now the all vegetable ones do say that on their labels, but if you were just told all shortening is alike and see that, you may pick it up not knowing it does infact have meat products in it.

Great info! Thanks!

At first I thought that it would be okay to use for buttercream, but now that I think more about it, I wonder if it needs to be cooked because of the meat products in it. I'm gonna have to look at that link again...

The others do say "All Vegetable" on the front of the label. So I would say if you saw one with out that check the ingredients to see if it has meat something or other in it.

There is a difference with GV brand. There is a shortening and then there is an all vegetable shortening! Trust me I found out there is a difference, the shortening did not break down and cream like the All Vegetable shortening did. I'm hoping DianeLM that you don't think I'm stupid because I asked for anyone's advice on this. I'm a beginner and I kind of got the feeling you were laughing at me for asking my question. One day, for fun, you should read both types ingredients and see there is a difference between the two. I only wanted to know if it made a difference in the texture of the finished buttercream.

itsmyparty - If you continue reading the thread, you'll see that TexasSugar gave me an education in shortening. I erroneously assumed all shortening is all vegetable.

I don't think you're stupid and never did. I don't laugh at people who ask for help. I would advise, however, in the future, read the entire thread before replying to the first response.

I hope you get the answers you're looking for. I'll be watching this thread with interest. Seems that several of us were ignorant of the different types of shortening.

BTW, it was me who alerted you to the responses in this thread.