Excuse stupid question, but where do most people get their lard?
Lard
- Thread starter Crazy Goat
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I have a restaurant supply store nearby that I get mine from.
artemis
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As a hobby soaper, I just pick it up at the grocery store or Walmart.
I purchased lard at the supermarket for a small batch, and from Soapers Choice when masterbatching.
My latest discovery is that I can go to the meat department at a large grocery store, right towards the end of the shift, when I can buy pork fat that has been trimmed from chops and roasts. I brought some home and rendered it myself. It’s easy to do when the weather is cold outside to help separate rendered fat from water. Making sure lard or tallow are absolutely fresh should help avoid acceleration from aging fatty acids.
My latest discovery is that I can go to the meat department at a large grocery store, right towards the end of the shift, when I can buy pork fat that has been trimmed from chops and roasts. I brought some home and rendered it myself. It’s easy to do when the weather is cold outside to help separate rendered fat from water. Making sure lard or tallow are absolutely fresh should help avoid acceleration from aging fatty acids.
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Walmart or another grocery store. We butcher are pigs and make our own lard.
The little Mexican Carniceria in my town. I like supporting the small store and many of the other items are fantastic.
MelissaG
Well-Known Member
I buy from Walmart. I tried finding somewhere that supplies rendered lard in my area but couldn't find one. There doesn't seem to be a butcher that sells to the public around here. Same with goats milk.
To those that buy lard in Walmart, are you guys concerned that Walmart lard has some additives in it? In Armour lard that we have in Walmart the ingredients listed are: LARD AND HYDROGENATED LARD, BHA, PROPYL GALLATE AND CITRIC ACID ADDED TO PROTECT FLAVOR. Any problems with these ingredients? Especially with citric acid since it will increase the superfat and we don't really know the amount they add.
MelissaG
Well-Known Member
Both are used in skin care products. So not really.
I either buy Snow Cap lard from Walmart or render it myself. I've never had a problem with either one. The Snow Cap has the same ingredients listed as Armour.
Thanks. Just bought the Snow Cap. Wanted to try lard in my soap for a while, especially since it is supposed to slow the trace. I normally use tallow, but it accelerates too much and I can't do any decent design with it.
Most of my soaps are ~40% lard. I don't do cp or designs but I've heard using a high percentage of lard increases the time it takes to trace so you should be good to go. Lard also makes really nice soap!
These additives are antioxidants. I have been buying Walmart Lard for years and it makes wonderful soap.
I am not so worried about antioxidants but citric acid will increase the superfat. The don't list the percentage so there is no way to figure out what is the increase in NaOH to compensate for it. But if you guys are not noticing the difference, I guess I will just do superfat at 3%, and if it will raise superfat by couple percent - it should be fine.
Hey natik, I've used the WalMart lard and really doubt that there is enough citric acid in there to make any significant difference to your soap formula. But try it and let us know what you think!
The lard is arriving on Thursday. Will definitely try it this week and let you know.
What percent superfat do you normally do? I usually set it to 5%. From what I understand, nobody is adjusting their formulas to account for additional citric acid, right?
What percent superfat do you normally do? I usually set it to 5%. From what I understand, nobody is adjusting their formulas to account for additional citric acid, right?
I'm probably not the best one to give answers about lard, since I'm not planning to continue with it as an ingredient. But I use anywhere from 0 percent (for ZNSC) to 20 percent (for salt bars). But most often I stick with 3, 4 or 5 percent. I think the lard recipes I tried had 4 percent SF. They were fine, but I'm sure 2 or 3 percent would have been fine, too.
I use 2-3% SF for my high-lard bars. Lard and tallow both seem to make a lot of soap scum if you go higher.
I typically use home-rendered lard with ROE, and no CA, but when I have used store-bought lard, I didn't try to compensate for the CA. I believe it is less than 1% per the label.
I typically use home-rendered lard with ROE, and no CA, but when I have used store-bought lard, I didn't try to compensate for the CA. I believe it is less than 1% per the label.
No. I have no concerns. Have used it for years and am very happy with it.
I use store bought lard....Walmart or others...and at 5% the soap scum is pretty bad, but we have hard water. I settled on 2% with all my lard recipes and see no problem when using store bought lard. It doesn't seem to make a difference if I use anywhere from 40% to 80% lard. If I go higher on my SF it creates more soap scum so I have settled on 2% for all soaps.
