I’ve been out of good, home rendered lard for a long time. I was out of it before we left Texas. There was a meat processing place not too far from us and I could get it there but I had never checked the local places here. Back in June, we were in a meat processing place here and I asked about pork fat and they explained that they can only sell fat from an “inspected” pig and the inspector comes on Wednesdays so that’s the only day they can save the fat. She told me they keep a list and when they get to you . . you get your fat. I was going to be out of town in July so I didn’t want to get on the list and then not be able to pick it up. August got here and I had zero space in the freezer. I’ve always bought 25 pounds at a time, rendered part of it and froze the rest; then another day when I had time, I’d get out the rest and process that.
The third week in August, I had taken a turkey and a ham out of the freezer so I got on the list for 25 pounds of pork fat. They called Thursday to tell me they had it and I asked if we could pick it up Friday and that was fine. Vince went to town yesterday so he ran by and got it for me.
It isn’t pretty but it will surely be nice to have good lard again. There is some back fat down in the bottom of the box. I divided the fat up . . put 8 pounds in the freezer that should be good for pie and pastry crusts. I rendered the other 17 pounds yesterday. I’m afraid to put boiling hot lard in jars so I left the lard out overnight to cool. Today I’ll barely heat it to the melting point, pour it into jars and once the lard is solid again and cooled completely, I’ll keep them in the fridge.
Then, there’s going to have to be a major cleanup in the kitchen!
Susan Nixon says
In an emergency, it would be good to be your neighbor and learn these older skills most people don’t use or know any more!
judy.blog@gmail.com says
I can think of a lot of people I’d rather have for a neighbor than myself. I’d like to be YOUR neighbor – emergency or not! 🙂
I’m often surprised and saddened at how many have no desire to learn to can or grow food or even cook meals at home. My feeling is that we’ve come so far but we’ve lost so much in the process.
Kathleen says
I was going to ask you yesterday where you could buy fresh lard after I read your email. I should have known it wasn’t going to be easy. I used to drive to Versailles and get it but that hasn’t been an option for many years. I have no idea how to render lard. Do you just heat it up until it melts?
Thanks Judy for all of the information you pass on.
Kathleen
judy.blog@gmail.com says
It’s very easy to do – just a bit time consuming. Here’s a good site to get you started, as well as give you some background on why we got away from using lard.
Teri says
After reading this article I decided to find out how to do it and I found the best article How To Render Lard (and why you should use it) by the daring gourmet. Very interesting.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
It is very interesting and a lot different from what we’ve been told for years. There are so many things that we’ve been told (brainwashed is a better word) and we believe without delving into it. People really need to wake up about so many things! My grandparents had butter that they made from the cream from their cow’s milk, lard made from their butchered pigs, ate lots of bacon and lived to very healthy into their late 80’s and early 90’s. Of course, they worked hard – didn’t sit in front of a TV or video game half the day. I feel like too many today want to live a sedentary lifestyle, eat horrible food (fast food, some restaurant food), rarely eat natural, pesticide free food that they grew or know the source where it was grown, then want a pill to fix their problems. The more I learn, the sadder I am for what this country has become.