WESSON OIL

BRAND NAME COOKING WITH WESSON OIL

The official company website:  Wesson Oil

HISTORY

The following is an excerpt from the book Ideas that Became Big Business by Clinton Woods. Published by Founders, Inc. Baltimore, MD, 1959, 414 pages.

Buy this book: Ideas That Became Big Business

The Wesson Oil Story

"America's leading cottonseed oil is named, appropriately enough, after the man who made possible what has since become a multi-billion dollar industry.

Today cottonseed oil constitutes by far the most valuable of all cottonseed products, with more than 90% of it finding its way to American dinner tables. It wasn't until 1899, however, that David Wesson discovered a method for making cottonseed oil pure and palatable for large-scale commercial use.

Prior to this discovery, attempts had been made to popularize refined cottonseed oil combined with lard. These had met with little success. David Wesson devoted himself to long and painstaking research. The result was a revolutionary method of placing refined cottonseed oil in a vacuum and forcing steam through it at high temperatures. This important new "Wesson Process" revolutionized the entire cottonseed oil industry, directly promoting the growth and prosperity it enjoys today.

"Doc" Wesson, as he is known to his associates, was a graduate and faculty member in chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. At the time of his discovery he was a head chemist for The Southern Cotton Oil Company, the predecessor of the company that 26 years later was named in his honor.

The Southern Cotton Oil Company had been formed in 1887, which makes the present Wesson Oil and Snowdrift Company--its direct descendant--the nation's oldest, as well as largest, processor of cottonseed oil. In 1909 Southport Mill, Ltd., a cottonseed oil business, was purchased by A. D. Geoghegan, late president of Wesson, and A. Q. Petersen, who is currently chairman of the board. In 1925 these pioneers headed a group which bought The Southern Oil Company and its subsidiary, The Southern Cotton Oil Trading Company. All three firms were then merged under the name Wesson Oil and Snowdrift Co., Inc., with the head offices in New Orleans.

The famous Wesson Oil that appears in American kitchens and on dining tables is the result of a complex and carefully developed process.

When the seed cotton arrives at the gin from the field, the cotton fiber is separated from the seed. The seed then goes to crude mills where the fuzzy covering (called "linters") and the hulls are removed. The "meats" are next rolled or flaked, then cooked, after which the oil is pressed out or extracted. Three general methods are used in extracting the oil--hydraulic, expeller and solvent.

The crude oil extracted from the crushed meats is shipped to a nearby refinery. Linters, hulls and crushed meats or meal go into the manufacture of a long line of products. From the linters come cotton batting, felt and cellulose products including rayon. The hulls are used principally for cattle feeds. The meal goes into livestock and poultry feeds and is used to a limited extent in high grade fertilizers.

At the refinery each batch of crude oil is analyzed by the company laboratory for flavor, odor and color. In the refining process that follows, free fatty acids and impurities are removed by chemical means by high-capacity, centrifugal refining machines. The refined oil is thoroughly "washed" and then "dried" under the vacuum. To produce the fine salad oil, choice and selected refined oil must go through an additional process known as "Winterization." The oil is chilled, the stearin or solid part crystallizes and is filtered, producing a salad oil that does not cloud at cool temperatures. In the final steps before packaging, the oil is bleached and deodorized by the famous "Wesson Process," which assures the superiority and purity of Wesson Oil. So efficient and highly mechanized has the packaging operation become that Wesson containers are cleaned, labeled, filled and closed without a human hand ever coming in contact with them.

Now employing more than 7500 people, The Wesson Company owns and operates some 30 cotton gins, 5 peanut shelling plants, 28 crushing mills and 18 fertilizer mixing units, scattered throughout the South. Many of these plants now handle soybeans, especially those that have been converted to modern solvents extraction plants. In addition, there are six modern refineries and packaging plants with automatic line-of-flow, high-speed apparatus which is the last word in mechanical and chemical engineering. Wesson refineries are located at Bayonne, N. J.; Chicago; Savannah, Ga.; Gretna, La. (New Orleans); Memphis; and Houston.

In addition to famous Wesson pure vegetable oil, the company also produces solid shortening, which enjoys wide popularity. In the production of this shortening, refined oil is first hydrogenated, then bleached, filtered, deodorized, chilled and whipped. The process of hydrogenation consists of pumping hydrogen into the oil, in the presence of a catalyst, then later filtering out the catalyst, the sole purpose of which is to cause the oil to change to fat.

The effect is to alter some of the molecular structure of the oil, making it solid when chilled and whipped.

Another process to which hydrogenated oil is subjected is "emulsorization." By adding an emulsifier, known as monoglyceride, it is possible to produce shortenings which are creamier and lighter. They also mix better with baking ingredients resulting in higher and lighter cakes and smoother icings.

Cottonseed oil has proved a particular asset in the preparation of skillet cooked foods because of its exceptionally high resistance to heat. Nutritionists have discovered that heat resistance lessens the amount of decomposition and increases the palatability of food.

The operations of the Wesson Oil and Snowdrift Co., Inc. have expanded over the years to include several affiliated firms. In 1930, a sister company named Blue Plate Foods, Inc., came into being. Blue Plate, with modern plants at New Orleans and Atlanta, makes mayonnaise, margarine and salad dressings. In addition, Blue Plate packs coffee, tea, peanut butter, preserves, jellies and barbecue. This famous line of prepared foods is widely distributed and heavily promoted throughout the South.

In 1932, Wesson Company acquired South Texas Cotton Oil Company, Inc. in Houston, a firm still operated as an individual manufacturing concern. In addition to operating crushing mills, gins and a refinery, it manufactures a large portion of Wesson consumer and industrial products.

Another subsidiary company is the Southern Shell Fish Company, Inc., which nationally distributes seafood products under the name "Blue Plate" and "Gulf Kist" labels, plus a line of canned Southern fruits and vegetables."