Lard

I have been using lard as my main cooking fat for quite a few years now. I do use butter and coconut oil as well, and very occasionally I'll use macadamia oil. There are many reasons why I like to use Lard though,  and I thought I'd share some of them with you. I did find a few links online, so if you don't want to take my advice you can check out some other peoples thoughts as well.

1. Lard is a traditional fat. Pigs are small animals (compared to cows) and they don't need as much space or even as much land as a cow. They will eat anything, so in years gone by were fed whatever excess people had. Not much got wasted on slaughter day, and the fat especially was treasured as it would last for a very long time when it was rendered down. Just about every traditional culture uses some form of animal fat.

2. Lard is heat stable. It can be heated to very high heats without damaging the structure of the fat. I'm not into science, but there is a reason for it and you can read more here.

3. It's economical and lasts for ages. I do have the luxury of owning a free range pork business, so I get to have as much as I like. I render a big pot at one time and then store the rendered fat in glass jars in the fridge.  It will keep like this for a very long time. It is important though to use a clean utensil when getting lard out to use so that it doesn't get contaminated. This is different to keeping the fat off cooked meat - eg keeping the fat from roasting a piece of pork, or some bacon. If I keep this fat, I use it a lot quicker. This however is a good way to get lard to cook with. I keep all my excess cooking fats to re-use.

4. Lard has quite a bland flavour. Chicken or beef fat is much stronger flavoured, which is good in a lot of ways. The beauty of lard's neutral flavour, is that you can use it in pastry - both sweet and savoury. I use it when I make tortillas. In past years it was used as a butter substitute.

5. Lard is healthy! Pigs like ours, that are raised on pasture, have more Vitamin D and Vitamin E than conventional pigs and in a form that we can access.

There is a lot more detail on the following links, if you would like to read more. I've even included a link that a very good customer of mine gave me for Lard Fudge. She made it, but I haven't yet!

https://robbwolf.com/2014/10/12/recipe-primal-freezer-fudge/

If you would like to render your own lard, here's a how to: https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/video-how-to-render-lard/

https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/lard/

https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/food-features/put-lard-back-in-your-larder/

http://eatdrinkpaleo.com.au/making-sense-of-healthy-cooking-oils-fats/

https://empoweredsustenance.com/lard-is-healthy/

Ask me more about it at the markets........