Okay, I've got lots of stuff to share as I've not added anything in FOREVER, but I guess what I'll share first is my experience with rendering lard. I scoured the Internet and read up on the subject as much as possible before beginning. I learned that lard is much healthier than shortning and margarin, which wasn't too surprising. I also saw that there are different ways you can render lard, so I tried 3 of them to see which worked best. After cutting the (groung) fat into cubes I placed some with a small amount of water in my crockpot, some in a roasting pan in a 225 degree oven and some in a pot on top of the stove over low heat.
Now I just began to heat them slowly, and watch them very carefully as I didn't want them to get too hot and end up with a piggy smell. When the fat began melting the solid materials would seperate:
(it works best if you remove the solids now with slotted spoon) then pour the liquid fat through a double layer of cheesecloth.
I stored the lard in jars and allowed it to cool and I was very pleased with the outcome.
I couldn't beleive it turned out white as snow! I almost hated to use any of it in soap. LOL! Also, I deciced that I liked the oven roasting method better. The crock pot was too slow and the stove top was too fast...but the oven was just right. :-)
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