lard

[FarmerDenise]

I don't refridgerate my lard. If it looks or smells rancid, I remove the bad looking part. It seems to take a really long time for it to go rancid though, like a year maybe. I had some in the back of the shelf that I forgot about.

I figure it is one of those things that were used before everyone had refridgerators, so it should keep well enough as long as it is stored in a fairly cool place (inside our house sometimes gets into the 80's, but usually is more like in the 70's in the summer)

My mother always used lard for cooking, but she bought it in smaller sizes, about a pound at a time. We didn't have refridgeration at all and lived in an attic apartment. Nothing got refridgerated. In the winter she put things out on the windowsill, just outside the window, to keep cold.

 

[big brown horse]

Well now that we are on the subject, where do you get your lard, does it have a name brand on it that you can share? Do I have to ask my butcher for it?

 

[Wifezilla]

I get some at the Mexican grocery store in my town. I will have to post the brand when I get home. White bucket with red type....NOT Armor that's for sure. It has some preservatives, but it isn't hydrogenated.

 

[freemotion]

I get the fat (leaf lard, it is called) from the butcher and render it myself. I run it through the meat grinder, put some water in a big stock pot, and boil it. Then I strain it, and refrigerate it until the fat rises and solidifies, that is your lard!

My mother would use pretty much all of the fat, not just the leaf fat, to make lard, when they killed a pig.

 

[miss_thenorth]

I usually buy lard in bricks lik ebutter. I have never refrigerated it, and only once had to throw it out, only b/c it got buried in my pantry (top shelf, pushed way at the back) It must have been there for years, I'm sad to admit.

My lard does not say anything about being hydrogenated, partially or anything. this means its the good stuff, right?

 

[freemotion]

Hopefully....here in the US, they have to label it when they hydrogenate it. Not sure what the rules are in Canada, though.

 

[miss_thenorth]

Well, it does say 0% transfat.

 

[freemotion]

Same thing! You have the good stuff!

 

[Wifezilla]

Ok...the stuff I have is Faraon - Manteca. BHT and Citric Acid are the preservatives added.

 

[Farmfresh]

I you ask the butcher where you get the leaf fat they will often even run it through the sausage grinder for you. That makes it easy to render. Remember to save the cracklins'! Some people use them in biscuit dough and I feed them to the wild birds or hens in coldest winter.