Haunted by lard/tallow

[Kcryss]

In the post, DeeAnna said it's best to add the salt after cooking for the best results.

I'll have 5lbs of beef fat this evening so going to give it a try. When I did the pork fat, I made the mistake of pouring it into a mason jar for storage, but watched a video later that showed using a cookie sheet. I think I'll try the cookie sheet option for the tallow. Was kind of a pain getting cold hard lard out of the mason jar for weighing.

 

[Kcryss]

I think the instructions about using water, salt, and baking soda are often vague because people don't really know how they work.

The point of using water in rendering is to allow it to absorb some of the color and odor causing chemicals that may be present in the fat. Ideally you should do what you can to encourage the water and fat to mix together when rendering, so this separation process can happen efficiently. It's a good idea to stir the warm fat-water mixture frequently and/or allow the water to gently simmer so it will agitate the mixture on its own.

Baking soda as Lion Princess explained, will slowly saponify with any free fatty acids and react with some of the odor-causing organic chemicals. It's best to add the baking soda early on so it has time to do its job. It doesn't work quickly, unlike lye, but it's safe and effective.

Adding salt increases the difference in density between the fat and the water. Bigger density difference => faster separation. That's good in the cool down, but not as good when actually rendering. So my advice is to not add salt while actively rendering the fat. When you want to stop so the fat and water can separate and cool down, then add the salt and stir until it's dissolved. In traditional rendering, the salt is helpful but not strictly required.

DeeAnna's comment in the lionprincess post

 

[Quilter99755]

I didn't use salt for the rendering but for the purifying, as I did a dry crockpot rendering. I think I put the soda and salt in the water and stirred it before adding the tallow back in. I wish I had taken pics of the whole sequence. But it sure worked for getting the smell out of the tallow.

I like the idea of the cookie sheet, especially for the last rinse. It would be far easier to break up and then store in the freezer that way. I had such a little amount so it was easy to maneuver and used it all within a day or two, so there wasn't an issue for storage.

 

[Kcryss]

I didn't use salt for the rendering but for the purifying, as I did a dry crockpot rendering. I think I put the soda and salt in the water and stirred it before adding the tallow back in. I wish I had taken pics of the whole sequence. But it sure worked for getting the smell out of the tallow.

Oh, ok. So you did the render first and then added soda/salt after cooking, then cooled and pulled the separated fat from the water after separation? Did you cook again or just the once?

 

[Quilter99755]

I rendered by the dry crock pot method, strained it, let it cool. It was smelly so started the search for getting rid of the smell. Put water, salt and baking soda in the pan and stirred for a bit as there was a reaction, added the tallow and let it simmer for a bit. Then I let it cool and did the same thing two more times before the water was clear when I let it cool (recooked it a total of three times). by that time the smell was gone so did not cook another time like the post said. It was small batch...maybe a couple of pounds of fat to start with...and ended up with 24 ounces of tallow by the time it was totally clean. I made two small batches of soap, one with and one without scent. There is no beefy odor at all to either of the soaps.

 

[Kcryss]

I rendered by the dry crock pot method, strained it, let it cool. It was smelly so started the search for getting rid of the smell. Put water, salt and baking soda in the pan and stirred for a bit as there was a reaction, added the tallow and let it simmer for a bit. Then I let it cool and did the same thing two more times before the water was clear when I let it cool (recooked it a total of three times). by that time the smell was gone so did not cook another time like the post said. It was small batch...maybe a couple of pounds of fat to start with...and ended up with 24 ounces of tallow by the time it was totally clean. I made two small batches of soap, one with and one without scent. There is no beefy odor at all to either of the soaps.

That's great! Thanks! Will be trying it out!

 

[Kelly Frizzell]

I had ordered both pork and beef fat and rendered them both separately but at the same time. I put them in different containers but now I do not know which is which. Is there a foolproof way to test whether a fat is lard or tallow?

 

[Quilter99755]

From what I remember about rendering lard was that it was softer than the tallow I rendered. But that was over 20 years ago that I rendered the lard, so the memory is on shaky grounds, so to speak.

 

[Quilter99755]

In the post, DeeAnna said it's best to add the salt after cooking for the best results.

I'll have 5lbs of beef fat this evening so going to give it a try. When I did the pork fat, I made the mistake of pouring it into a mason jar for storage, but watched a video later that showed using a cookie sheet. I think I'll try the cookie sheet option for the tallow. Was kind of a pain getting cold hard lard out of the mason jar for weighing.

Thanks for the suggestion on a cookie sheet. That will be much easier to just break up and toss in the freezer.

 

[Ladka]

...now I do not know which is which. Is there a foolproof way to test whether a fat is lard or tallow?

A month or so ago I had both rendered beef tallow and pig lard in the fridge, and lard was definitely the softer of the two.

 

[Kelly Frizzell]

Dark bread was once looked down upon, and Wonder Bread was seen as progress, so was polyester. Freeways were also seen as good, mass transit bad. Shooting bison you had no intention to eat from the back of a train, a legitimate past time, till most of them were killed... Making soap at home? How perfectly backward, in 1957!

Lard hit hard times when Science told us Butter was bad for us. Now we find out that Lard is not as bad for you as butter, and both are better than margarine, and a study making waves today says that red meat probably isn’t bad for you either!

I started making lard soap last year, to avoid palm oil. Sourcing organic lard was difficult, even in San Francisco, although I could get the fat and render it myself—-but that is an arduous process, and even with a Kitchen Aid grinder, I nearly ruined my machine grinding one batch of it. I too smell the pig in it—-not a heavy smell, but it is there. If I could get larger batches of organic lard, or could find a way to grind up pork fat (it renders faster) I’d use lard. I also remember a friend back in my Coast Guard days who sent his mother a bouquet of anthuriums—we were stationed in Honolulu. Rather than being pleased she read him the riot act for sending her those, “vulgar, filthy flowers”. What’s dirty, the lard, the anthuriums, or the mind that finds them dirty?

This was my grandmother’s grinder. It still works for me today to grind up the fat. I have also asked the butcher to do it for me.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

This was my grandmother’s grinder. It still works for me today to grind up the fat. I have also asked the butcher to do it for me.

That looks just like the one my mom used to make meatloaf. Lucky you!!!

 

[Ladka]

That looks just like the one my mom used to make meatloaf. Lucky you!!!

And just like my Mum's too!

 

[Iveta Pelá]

Maybe I thought lard soap was worse than others. But I tried it because I had a lot of high-quality lard at home. And I am a person who likes to use what I have available and at home. And I found out how wonderful this soap is... The doctors advised me to use lard for scars after surgery. Even after the birth of my son, an experienced pediatrician said that normal lard is best for children's skin. Instead of expensive baby creams, I smeared lard on my baby. He had beautiful soft skin. I always remember that now when I make or use tallow soap.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

an experienced pediatrician said that normal lard is best for children's skin.

I can second that notion. My friend, Nancy the Nurse, told me that her mother, who was a neo-natal nurse in the 30's and 40's of the 20th century, used lard to clean new borns.

On another note, I keep wondering why I haven't witnessed that on the PBS Series, Call the Midwife!

 

[Jorah]

All this interesting talk about lard soaps, what about tallow? I have only used it once, and I rendered it myself. What nice soap. I used lard once, too I need to try that again.

I live in a location where I pay extra shipping and they charge by the pound. A 50# bucket of sustainably grown palm is very pricey. I can get fat from the butcher for free, but rendering is a chore.......... still, considering tallow instead of palm. What do you think?

I've used up several pounds of tallow and found it very comparable to the lard I get from Walmart or online; the tallow is a bit pricier for me, but I've decided to order more, particularly if my most recent experiment with a 50/50 split of lard and tallow works out.

 

[Jorah]

unfortunately, I can always smell the pig in the soap

There are some great conversations on here about using oakmoss EO to lightly scent lard soap to cancel out that smell. I'm looking forward to trying it!

 

[Zany_in_CO]

Use Oakmoss to Offset the Odor of Lard/Tallow

Once made, you can use it in small amounts to anchor EO blends. It's compatible with most essential oils and often used for that purpose in perfumery. It's a good thing.

 

[Nona'sFarm]

There are some great conversations on here about using oakmoss EO to lightly scent lard soap to cancel out that smell. I'm looking forward to trying it!

Looked up Oakmoss EO, it is really pricey. What is the recommended quantity per pound of lard?

 

[Arimara]

There are some great conversations on here about using oakmoss EO to lightly scent lard soap to cancel out that smell. I'm looking forward to trying it!

I stated that quite some time ago. As things are now, I don't really make lard soap, even with coffee. I also cannot afford to get oakmoss EO so I can't really test that theory out.