It was the oil, nevertheless, that gave the name, rise, and chief value to the industry based on cottonseed as its raw material. The promoters had prior to the Civil War considered this oil as a possible strong competitor of whale oil for illumination, but there was recognition by 1860 that petroleum might materially reduce this demand for cottonseed oil.4″ But its uses as an edible oil, which had been demonstrated in the fifties, were effectively emphasized after the Civil War. There was French complaint in 1880 that refined cottonseed oil was reaching France under the name of olive oil from Spain and Italy.42 With New Orleans shipping 73,782 barrels to Europe, including 40,000 barrels to Italy, in the year ending August 31, 1879, there might be a question as to spurious olive oil, concerning which “the world must draw its own conclusions.“43 The statistical connections between Italian imports of American cottonseed oil and Italian exports of olive oil in the eighties were suggestive of the Atlanta Constitution’s comment on cottonseed oil that “frugal Italians placed a cask of it at the root of every olive tree and thus defied the Borean breath of the Alps.“44 The new product was destined to circle the globe in competition with olive oil and eventually under correct labels. It found its way to the Maine coast for sardine-packing, and certain grades continued to be used in the manufacture of soap in America and also abroad, as at Marseilles. Still greater demands for cottonseed oil came through the manufacture of artificial butter and compound lard or vegetable shortening. The beginnings and developments of these uses were as surreptitious as had been its early use as an adulterant or substitute for olive oil, with the American dairyman or hog-raiser becoming the foeman in place of the foreign olive grower. It was also necessary to fight down the antipathy or prejudice of the consumer, as revealed in the statement, “Give me some pure hog lard, I don’t want any of that old cottonseed stuff.“4

Image from: https://purefood.lafayette.edu/maps/cottonseed-exports/