Vanaspati

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A cooking fat made from hydrogenated plant oils that serves as an alternative to traditional dairy fats
2. A solidified fat derived from vegetable oils, frequently used in cooking and baking as a ghee substitute
3. A type of solid fat created by hydrogenating plant oils, commonly used in kitchens as a ghee alternative

Etymology: Sanskrit "vanaspati" literally means "lord of the forest," from "vana" (forest) and "pati" (lord, master). In Sanskrit and older Indian usage it referred to trees and plants in general, and in Hindu tradition it was a term for the sacred or life-giving tree. Its modern sense is quite far from that: the same word was adopted in India for a manufactured fat, made by hydrogenating vegetable oils so they solidify at room temperature. The name was applied to this product as a way of marking it as vegetable-derived, since the plant connection was the selling point against animal fats. In practice it became a common, affordable substitute for ghee, the clarified butter central to much Indian cooking, and it spread widely in South Asian kitchens and baking. The forest lord of Sanskrit thus ended up naming an industrial cooking fat.

Synonyms: margarine, vegetable ghee, shortening