Stinky pork fat

[cedarstar]

Most of my soaps are lard based and I usually buy it bulk in 20kg boxes. It's nice, white, creamy and scent free. I'd been looking at either rendering my own or buying from a local farm as to not have lard with the additives. My husband (God bless him for his support) brought me home a 5 gallon pail from our local hutterites. The pail says "pig fat". It's yellowish, very soft and smells bad, close to bacon but dead bacon. Lol. My husband says he'll return it but if I can fix it: clean it, re-render it then I'd rather do that than send it back. Has anyone had a similar experience or any suggestions?
Thanks,
Debbie

 

[Obsidian]

In my experience, once fat develops a bad smell, you can't remove it. I would send it back.
The texture alone would turn me off. Doesn't sound like it was rendered properly.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

This is just me, but I'm a "waste not, want not" kinda gal. I'd have to check on exactly how to do it, but I would at least try washing it in salt water. Maybe more than once, to see how it cleans up. I'm old enough to remember this habit housewives had "back in the day". My thinking is, this "pork fat" was accumulated over time and is now ready for soap making. Not sure.

To avoid stinky lard soap, I just posted this thread in another thread.

https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/oakmoss-to-offset-the-odor-of-lard-tallow.64271/

 

[cedarstar]

Thanks, that's what I thought. I'll let my husband know later. I had been in contact with someone else before my husband brought this stuff home. She describes her lard as white, solid and virtually smell free. I'll have a look at hers. I've been experimenting with lard based body butters too and I don't think anyone wants to smell like bacon. The pastor of our church is also bringing me tallow from their dairy farm. It's been described as the best there is, so I will get to try it out soon too!

 

[cedarstar]

This is just me, but I'm a "waste not, want not" kinda gal. I'd have to check on exactly how to do it, but I would at least try washing it in salt water. Maybe more than once, to see how it cleans up. I'm old enough to remember this habit housewives had "back in the day". My thinking is, this "pork fat" was accumulated over time and is now ready for soap making. Not sure.

I had read about this but worried that if it doesn't work I'm going to be stuck with 50 lbs of stinky fat. Lol. I could try a small scoop and see what it does. Thanks
Debbie

 

[Zany_in_CO]

I've been experimenting with lard based body butters too and I don't think anyone wants to smell like bacon.

Interesting. My friend, Nancy the nurse, said her mother was a neo-natal nurse way back in the 1930's or so. She said they cleaned newborns with lard. It's probably one of the best things we can use on our skin... it's just "the thought" that's off putting, I think.

Also, I have Melanie McCullough's recipe for lard lotion in my files. I keep meaning to make it but just haven't had time to play lately. PM me if you're interested in trying it.

ETA: I made tallow & lard soaps almost exclusively when I first started out. Lovely soaps.

 

[cedarstar]

Interesting. My friend, Nancy the nurse, said her mother was a neo-natal nurse way back in the 1930's or so. She said they cleaned newborns with lard. It's probably one of the best things we can use on our skin... it's just "the thought" that's off putting, I think.

Lard is amazing in whipped body butter. I took out the coconut oil in my recipe and replaced it with lard. You cannot smell it at all with the store bought lard. You'd never know it was there if you didn't know the ingredients. It's extremely moisturizing too! So far the few people I've had try it or those I've mentioned it to haven't been grossed out. Lol. Way back in the days before all our chemicals, I had read that Cleopatra had most likely used a lard based cream. Animal fats were used more than vegetable oils. They're a closer match to our skin chemistry than vegetable oils.

ETA: I made tallow & lard soaps almost exclusively when I first started out. Lovely soaps.

I make a few vegan as well but the soap with lard is my favorite!

 

[DeeAnna]

If animal fat is not rendered as soon as possible after the animal is slaughtered, it quickly starts to degrade and build odors especially if the fat is contaminated with blood or protein and also if it is not cooled down promptly.

I'm guessing the hutterite lard is mostly subcutaneous fat (fat below the skin). This fat is higher in oleic acid. Internal fat is higher in stearic and palmitic acids, so it's harder. The odor suggests (1) it was not rendered as promptly as it should have been, or (2) it was overheated during rendering, or both. Subcuteneous fat is plenty fine for soap making, but if the odor isn't removed, it will persist in the finished soap. There are ways to reduce the odor in rendered fat by washing it with water. Some people use salt or baking soda as well.

You really do want the fat to be as odor free as possible because Obsidian and Susie (another SMF lardinator) are right -- the smell does carry over into the soap and fragrance may not mask the odor.

LionPrincess did a nice tutorial a few years back about washing lard to reduce odor -- I don't have a link to her thread(s), but it's a worthwhile read.

You have to ask yourself if you want to get into this processing. It can be messy and time consuming and there are no guarantees. But if you are interested in learning what it takes to fix the problem and/or if you have more time than money, cleaning this lard up might be worth the trouble. Otherwise it may be better to return the smelly lard and find a product that is lower odor.

 

[cedarstar]

Thanks DeeAnna. I'll look into it and maybe try a small amount. If I can't remove the smell I'll have my husband take it back to them. I just feel bad because they were trying to help out. (They're friends of my husband) As much as I would prefer the home rendered I won't make soap with smelly lard. The lard I purchase in bulk from the store is completely scent free, even my unscented body butters made with lard are scentless. I'll check out the other person's lard and see how it is. She describes it as virtually scentless and white, like lard should be. If it's not suitable I'll stick with what I know is good. I may at some point try to render my own if I can find a good source for fresh fat.
Debbie

 

[cmzaha]

Keep in mind the additives such as citric acid and BHT help deter, rancidity, lard, in fact, I add BHT at 0.02% in all my soaps even when making my tallow/lard soaps to help deter DOS even more

 

[Iluminameluna]

Fwiw, I can only get "brown" lard here in El Salvador so I've been experimenting with how to clean it.
My best results have been with a salt water bath. I heat water and the lard separately then pour them into a quart mason jar. I put it in the fridge overnight. Once the lard is hard, I open a gap for the water to run out. I then put the jar in a pot to heat with some water in it, then, when the lard has melted, I put the water from the pot into the jar, and repeat the process.
Sometimes it takes 2 days, sometimes 3, but the lard eventually clears up and the scent goes away. It's not pure white, but light enough that the soap comes out a clean white.
I don't use scent or color in my soaps made with lard and my Nanny loves them!