SHORTENINGS Shortenings perform a number of desirable functions in bakery foods. These include imparting tenderness, flakiness, moisture, mouth-feel, flavour, structural contribution, air incorporation, lubrication, plasticity, heat transfer. The soybean oil based shortenings have superior physical properties such as good mixing and creaming qualities, high stability and uniformity, as compared to lard. Shortenings fall into a number of categories, determined by the functional requirements of the product. The applications include, among others, frying shortenings, cake and icing shortenings, biscuit and snack spray fats, coating fats and fluid shortenings.