re: #188 freetoken
My mother used to make good apple pies, which I think she probably learned from her grandmother.
Yes, she would use hydrogenated vegetable oils (e.g. Crisco), but that was after the real prime ingredient - lard - was replaced.
Animal fats (lard) have a higher melting point than the liquid fat in milk (which is turned into butter.)
Thing is, lard (and butter, for that matter) are, by and large, not any worse for you in the quantities typically used in things like baked goods than the synthetic alternatives, like margarine and shortening (which have their own problems).