Winner: Crisco All-Vegetable Shortening
With high ratings in both non-stick performance and appearance, and the clear winner when it comes to cost-effectiveness, for my money, Crisco is the way to go.
Seasoning Comparison
Seasoning Products
Comparing Seasoning Products
The debate about the best seasoning methods for cast iron cookware has raged for years. Because of this, it’s time for the Cast Iron Chef to step in and do an unbiased, apples-to-apples comparison of the best cast-iron seasoning products on the market:
Seasoning 101
The term “seasoning” is a combination of polymerized oil and carbon residue, which creates a durable coating, created layer-by-layer on the surface of cast iron cookware.
Well-seasoned cast iron cookware has the following benefits:
- Seasoning enables cast iron cookware to be rust-proofed.
- Seasoning also creates a reasonably good non-stick cooking surface.
- Many fans of cast iron desire the deep black color normally achieved by regular usage.
Some insist the best non-stick surfaces and the best-looking patina are the result of "just cooking with it" over a long period of time. A similar result can be achieved in the short term by manually seasoning cast iron cookware using the fat/oils readily available in a typical kitchen, or by using commercially available seasoning products.
Let's Compare
What are the differences between the major seasoning products on the market? Most people just use Crisco to season their cast iron, primarily because it’s cheap and is already in their kitchen. Are there seasoning products superior to Crisco?
There are quite a few cast iron forums where lively debates on the topic of seasoning occur on a daily basis. Besides individual, proprietary seasoning recipes closely guarded by collectors, it appears there are four primary commercial cast iron seasoning products in use today: Crisco, Crisbee, BuzzyWaxx and Easy Beezy.
| Product | Ingredients | Size | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| BuzzyWaxx | Grapeseed oil, Canola oil, beeswax | 2. oz. | $7.00 |
| Crisbee | Soybean oil, palm oil, beeswax | 6.5 oz. | $14.95 |
| Crisco® | Soybean oil, palm oil, Mono & Diglycerides | 16 oz. | $2.84 |
| Easy Beezy | Grapeseed oil, beeswax | 4 oz. | $12.00 |
A review of the ingredients labels on all four products shows that Crisbee has similar active ingredients as Crisco (soy & palm oil). BuzzyWaxx and Easy Beezy contain grape seed oil as a primary ingredient, which is not contained in Crisco.
This difference is significant because grapeseed oil has a higher level of unsaturated fat than the oils in Crisco and Crisbee. Oils with a higher unsaturated fat content break down and polymerize more readily. This means grapeseed oil should create superior cast iron seasoning than the oils in Crisco and Crisbee. Also, grapeseed oil should leave behind a higher carbon residue, which would increase the darker coloring of the cast iron.
My Hypothesis
I’m hypothesizing that Crisbee will provide essentially the same seasoning as Crisco, while BuzzyWaxx and Easy Beezy, which contain grape seed oil, will provide superior seasoning than either Crisco or Crisbee. Whether
BuzzyWaxx outperforms Easy Beezy or visa versa, remains to be seen.
Getting Researchy
In order to compare the products, I purchased 4 identical Lodge #3 mini-skillets. Using Easy Off Heavy Duty™ (yellow can), which uses lye as its active ingredient, I stripped all four pans down to bare metal:
I then purchased all four seasoning products. Following the directions on each one, I performed three rounds of seasoning on each skillet.
Evaluation Criteria
Once all four pans were seasoned, I compared them using three criteria:
- Non-stick Surface - I performed the ultimate test: frying eggs in each skillet.
- Appearance - Many cast iron fanatics love the dark color of a well-seasoned skillet. How did each skillet look when I was done?
- Cost-effectiveness - Finally, I did a simple cost analysis - the cost of each product relative to the non-stick performance and appearance of its skillet.
Results
Non-Stick Surface
Frying an egg in a cast iron skillet is notoriously difficult. What I have found is that success depends on having a well seasoned pan, and proper technique - which comes from a lot of practice. This seemed to me to be the best determinant of a well seasoned pan.
I fried two eggs in each pan. To my surprise, all four pans performed about the same. I was able to to fry eggs in all four pans. No broken eggs! I did use cooking spray and a little bit of butter in each pan (like I always do), but that wouldn't have made any difference if the pans weren't well seasoned.
Appearance
After seasoning each skillet three times according to the manufacturer's directions , I then evaluated the appearance of each one. What I found is that each skillet's color differed only slightly from the others. None of the seasoning products produced a noticeably darker color than the others:
Cost Effectiveness
Next I looked at the cost of each product. In order to make an apples-to-apples comparison, I broke down the price of each product by cost-per-ounce:
| Product | Ingredients | Size | Price | $ Per/oz. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BuzzyWaxx | Grapeseed oil, Canola oil, beeswax | 2. oz. | $7.00 | $3.50 |
| Crisbee | Soybean oil, palm oil, beeswax | 6.5 oz. | $14.95 | $2.30 |
| Crisco® | Soybean oil, palm oil, Mono & Diglycerides | 16 oz. | $2.84 | $0.18 |
| Easy Beezy | Grapeseed oil, beeswax | 4 oz. | $12.00 | $3.00 |
Conclusion
My hypothesis was that BuzzyWaxx and Easy Beezy, because they contain grape seed oil, would out perform both Crisbee and Crisco.
What I found was that none of the of the products significantly outperformed the others when comparing non-stick performance or appearance. But when it came down to cost-effectiveness, one product stood head-and-shoulders above the others - Crisco. I found that at $0.18 per ounce, Crisco performed equally well as a seasoning product when compared to BuzzyWaxx, Crisbee and Easy Beezy, which cost $3.50, $2.30 and $3.00 per ounce, respectively.
