Vanaspati

Grainy, hydrogenated vegetable oils used as a ghee alternative in India and Pakistan. Resembling margarines and often fortified with vitamins A and D, vanaspati is made by partially hydrogenating vegetable oils to a semi-solid, granular texture that mimics ghee. It is widely used for frying, baking, and confectionery in South Asian cooking. Nutritionally, traditional vanaspati drew concern over trans fatty acids from partial hydrogenation — prompting regulatory trans-fat limits — while passing vanaspati off as ghee is a classic food-fraud offence policed by authenticity tests such as the Baudouin test for the sesame-oil marker.