The past couple of days I have been canning and then yesterday I spent the day rendering lard. It was time consuming but, oh so worth it. A friend came over and we had a "canning day" -- it was fun. We canned jelly, salsa and zuchini relish. We are going to do another day soon.
Some of my friends were asking how to render lard. . . here's how I did it.
We are raising our own pork, so I had all the fat from our pigs. They were pasture raised and never given any hormones or antibiotics. Some people say that it will stink when you render lard but I didn't have any smell at all - it's because the pig was pastured and raised humanely.
First you get your fat and cut it in to smallish pieces. Then I put it in a large crock pot and put the oven on 225. I did 2 big pots. In one pot I added a little water and in the other one I didn't. . . (I noticed no difference in the outcome of the lard.) And then you just wait, and wait and wait. After about an hour I went in and stirred it and mashed it with a masher to try and break it down a little bit more. Then waited some more. Eventually you will see the lard. Ladle it off, strain it in cheesecloth and put it in jars. You can also put it in muffin tins and freeze it. It will last a year in the freezer and 3 months in the fridge.
I should have taken pics during the whole process, but the only pics I got was when everything was done. I got a pic of the crackling (which is all that is left of the fat at the end) and of the jars after they had been canned.
No comments:
Post a Comment