Lard percentage

[lenarenee]

I like 50% to 80% lard, and have always used home-rendered lard till recently. It never had any piggy smell at all. To my surprise, my first store-bought lard that I got last month, which is preserved with BHT and citric acid, has a definitely piggy smell before using it. I wonder if the preservatives affect the smell somehow? I'd think it would be the opposite but can't explain why my home-rendered lard with zero antioxidants or preservatives has not smell.

Fortunately, I don't smell anything in the curing bars made with the store-bought lard, but so far, all of those are scented. I'll be interested to find out how this store-bought lard smells in an unscented bar.

I've had some really neutral smelling lard (with bht and citric acid, and some that smelled so awfully strong that I threw it out - despite knowing that there was nothing functionally wrong with it. Fannie and Flo from the famed Etsy lard and tallow store have said that the age, gender and other factors of the animal matter as to the scent.

 

[LynetteO]

For those of you who like a high lard %, do you use a preservative &/or Chelator?

I recently substituted 20% lard for
vegetable shortening & LOVE that soap. Want to go higher% but read (SMF) that it’s likely high %shortening/lard bars have short shelf life (18mo) without some type of preservative??

 

[AliOop]

For those of you who like a high lard %, do you use a preservative &/or Chelator?

I recently substituted 20% lard for
vegetable shortening & LOVE that soap. Want to go higher% but read (SMF) that it’s likely high %shortening/lard bars have short shelf life (18mo) without some type of preservative??

Remember: antioxidant for fats/oils, preservatives for water-based liquids and products.

I have some high lard bars that are three years old with no rancidity, and I did not use any antioxidant. But others here, like @cmzaha get DOS when using lard over a certain percentage. Using an antioxidant like ROE is a good hedge against rancidity if you are concerned about it.

ETA: I do use citric acid or sodium citrate as a chelator in all my soaps.