A composition of matter is used as an ingredient in cooking comprising 1-30% by weight of highly refined cellulose fiber, 20-85% by weight animal consumable oils or fats and 5-40% by weight of water. The product can replace shortenings and fats and oils, and can be used in baked, fried, extruded and frozen products. A highly refined cellulosic materials (e.g., cellulose, modified celluloses, derivatized celluloses, hemicellulose, lignin, etc.) product can be prepared by generally moderate treatment and still provide properties that are equivalent to or improved upon the properties of the best highly refined cellulose products produced from more intense and environmentally unfriendly processes. Fruit or vegetable cells with an exclusively parenchymal cell wall structure can be treated with a generally mild process to form highly absorbent microfibers.