Throughout my married life, those in the "know" have proven one thing to me and that is ~ they don't know.
"fats are good for you"
"fats are bad for you"
"Olive oil is good, vegetable oil is bad"
"Coconut oil is good, olive oil is bad"
"Wheat is good"
"wheat is bad"
"eggs are good"
"eggs are bad"
"butter is good for you, margarine is bad"
"margarine is good for you and butter is bad"
It's exhausting. exhausting. How about running our families according to the bible? How about all things in moderation?
That being said. what of these "all things" can I produce on my own?
For my family, it is butter and lard. Both of these I have complete control over and to me that makes them as healthy as a fat can get.
The only fat I purchase is coconut oil. I can get it from Country Life Natural Foods in 50 lb buckets and it stores well. But the majority of our fat comes straight from our land.
I wanted to post about butter right after the yogurt but it just hasn't worked out well for me... My blog tends to be about real life and real life just isn't perfect.... like I forget to take pictures all. the. time.
Soo.. you get lard today but! keep this little butter churn on your radar and for less than $40 you have a way to make butter and we will get back to it, I promise.
I am blessed in that we breed pigs so I can control my fat source from conception. It hasn't always been that way and even if you do not have a way to raise your own pigs, you can visit a custom butcher and ask him to save you the fat from healthy farm raised pigs. Most people don't keep their lard and often he will just give it to you for free or for pennies.
The only tools you need for rendering lard are a ladle, a slotted spoon, a crock pot, and a sharp knife.
A quick tip, Walmart puts crockpots on their black Friday ad every year for around $10 without fail. You don't even have to fight the crowds to get it. Walmart.com and it shows up at your door two days later. I own three because when I do things I tend to do them in mass quantities. It's an illness, really.
Your fat will come in long strips. Just chunk it up with a sharp knife.
and toss it in your crockpot. a word of warning... lard does not smell like frying bacon. If you can put the crockpot outside on a nice day or in your garage great, if not ... oh, well... just ignore the comments from the rest of the family. turn your crockpot on low if you don't have time to babysit it and high if you will be around all day.
The fat will start to melt and the impurities will sink to the bottom. You can begin skimming any time you wish. After skimming you can add more fat to the pot if you have it and allow it to heat back up. I ladle mine off into cake pans but you may have canning jars or something else you wish to use.
The lard is hot and not something you want little children around. Lard is shelf stable and how you chose to store it is completely up to you. I cool mine in the pans and then cut it into three cup sections and store in my freezer because I can't spare canning jars or shelf space. If there are any impurities left in your lard it will sink to the bottom and can be cut off before freezing, if it's in a jar the last little bit in the jar will be gritty. still good for frying with but not so much for making cookies.
The lard turns pure white when set.
And finally, the cracklins. It is the leftover meat and stuff from rendering. You can salt them and they taste like pork rinds, only, the texture is all wrong and we don't much care for them... They can also be fed back to your pigs (oh! the horror, Shelly!) chickens or dogs. At the very least toss them in your compost, don't waste it.
And that is it, ladies. For a few hours of work, you can have your fat supply for a year with minimal outsourcing and cost. Plus, we are making soap here shortly and lard soap is one of the recipes I will be sharing.
Now, to get back outside it's almost time to plant the pumpkin field.... and pumpkins are excellent pig food for next years lard.
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