Let's talk about lard, baby

[Meena]

Well, I checked our lists here, and triclosan is not allowed on our certified organic crops, and rotenone (mentioned in your linked article as an allowed input in your organic farming ... although I do keep in mind the article is now 8 years old, so this may have changed) is expressly forbidden in our organic systems.

The organic farmers I know would be mortified to think that these products would be allowed in organic farming (it kind of defeats the purpose ).
Most of these practice crop rotation and use natural fertilizers (manures, composts etc.).
We also have Biodynamic certification, which is even more stringent in requirements.

I'm moving to Australia!!!

 

[midnightsoaper]

I recently bought a 50lb cube of lard. I keep most of it in the deep freezer, and a smaller bucket in the fridge. Same with tallow. I agree with @IrishLass , lard & tallow together make a great hard fat combo.

I have a hypersensitive sense of smell, and I don't detect lard or tallow in unscented soap. I definitely smell it beforehand though. Now I want to sniff some old lard soap to see what @cmzaha was talking about lol I'm going to have to wait a while, my soaps are only a couple months old.

 

[shunt2011]

I love lard. I get it in 50lb cubes. I store it in a cool dark room as I don't have room in my fridge for it. I do use it rather quickly so it's not sitting around long. 4-5 good soaping session takes care of it. I get it for 30.00. I'm another one who can't smell it in soap. Even old soap. The biggest key to using lard is not to over heat it. If it gets too hot it can smell to high heaven.

 

[Marilyn Norgart]

I must have a different sniffer cuz I don't smell anything bad with lard

 

[Dawni]

In your country, agriculture may well still be clean, but not in USA... so all my animal products must be organic, period.

Ya think?
We like copying you guys lols so it's probably more or less the same over here. I don't think I'll be able to continue living the lifestyle I'm accustomed to if I have to eat/use only organic. Very expensive here, and hard to find. Natural, probably, not organic.

I also don't like lard in soap. I don't like the smell of it fresh, I don't like the smell of lard soap and I REALLY don't like the smell of old lard soap (I reckon it stinks - there's no hiding that smell! ... neem and lard are my two "never use" fats).

It will store very well in the freezer - this doesn't affect the texture of the final soap.

I was expecting the lard to smell porky. Surprisingly the one I bought doesn't. I thought maybe once it goes into the cooker it would but also no. Neither is it white white, like I've been seeing online.

I tried soaping with it already, can ya tell I'm excited? Haha.. One CP batch last night and one HP earlier today. The HP pieces I scraped off the pot feel nice already and I'm sure it'll get better. Not sure what happened to my CP batch, probably soaped too cool? Let's see how that turns out in s few weeks.

My two kilos isn't gonna last long I think. One is almost halfway gone, and I stuck the other in the freezer.

Thanks for your insights guys.. Especially the warning to not overheat. Keep em coming!

 

[Obsidian]

I'm a huge lard fan, to the point I don't like soap without it. That being said, I'm not a fan of a 100% lard bar. It really doesn't lather very well due to being so insoluble. Unless you have extra lard or its fairly cheap, I'd skip a 100% batch unless you really, really want to know what its like.

I've done a 80% lard, 20% coconut that is really nice. Super hard long lasting bars that lathers decently and is gentle. My main recipe though is 50% lard, 20% coconut, 25% HO oil of choice and 5% castor.

I store my lard in the freezer unless I plan to use it within a month or so.

 

[earlene]

I must have a different sniffer cuz I don't smell anything bad with lard

Yes. a different sniffer is a good way to put it. Not everyone has the same sense of smell. Some are more sensitive to certain odors than others. Partly it's the way we're built, but also partly affected by our own personal environments. Smoking, certain medications and supplements as well as some illnesses have an affect on our sense of smell.

I wonder if others who find the piggy smell of lard as offensive as I do, by any chance experienced a similar reaction during pregnancy? When I was young and not yet a vegetarian, my favorite to eat food (after I left my parent's home) was bacon. We never ate anything piggy in my parents home, so I never tasted it or smelled it cooking when I grew up. But when I learned to love bacon, I ate it every weekend for breakfast until I got pregnant with my first child. Then it made me so nauseated I couldn't bear to have it in the house. That went away after birth, but returned again with my second pregnancy. So I'm just curious if anyone else had a similar experience with piggy smells and if it at all correlates to the dislike of the smell of lard and lard soap.

 

[Dawni]

Pregnancy can be weird in itself lol i have a cousin who used to love this one men's cologne and bought bottles n bottles for her hubby. While she was pregnant she refused to let him near her if he was wearing that cologne lol

I know several similar stories..

My dislike for the porky smell is weird too. I gag and want to puke, depending on what it is haha. Things like ham and hotdogs don't bother me but pork inside dimsum does, as well as any stew type pork dish. Bacon I can take some days, some days no.

Weird eh? But this lard I bought reminded me of how butter smells like, nothing porky. So far the soaps also don't have that smell, not even the "cooked" one.

 

[dixiedragon]

What other types of meats do people eat in your area? For example, deer meat is very lean, and in my area (southeastern US), they eat a lot of acorns which makes the fat tasty strong/gamy. So the processors here throw out the deer fat and add pork or beef fat to the venison when they make sausage. So it could be the fat is being used that way.

Maybe try to find out where people get baking supplies, because lard is supposed to make excellent pie crusts and other baked goods?

I am also wondering if it is typically called something else in your area? For example, beef fat is available in my area as shortening, but it doesn't say BEEF FAT or TALLOW on the packaging, it says "shortening" and then you read the ingredients.

 

[Donee']

LOVE lard soap
love love love it
But the other comments are right - try a 20% coconut oil
and make sure you put it through a calculator
Love lard
Love lard soap
Love eating pig

Most commercial soaps have Sodium Tallowate in (in some form or another) - Dove Soap especially.

GOing down to my local butchers tommorow (he has his own farms) to see if I can begin a relationship with him/her and get some pig fat.
You have given me an ear worm now and I cant stop humming that song

 

[amd]

How do I store my opened pack? Can I freeze my other unopened pack or it'll be fine out in the store room along with the rest of my soaping stuff?

I used to get rendered lard from local friends when they had pigs (or tallow if they butchered cattle) and they were kind enough to package it in whatever quantity I wanted - so I would have them package in ziplock bags in just the amount I needed for a 12lb masterbatch, and then all of my "fat bags" go into a box in the freezer - they would often do 40-70lbs at a time for me. Made it really easy to grab one bag, thaw it, double check the weight and dump it in the pot to be melted for masterbatch. I never noticed a difference between "fresh from the store" and the frozen lard. [Now my friends have gotten too old and have told me that it is too much work for them, so this spring I will be venturing into the territory of rendering my own lard/tallow and / or purchasing it in bulk.]

Love it or hate it? Never used it? Can't find it? Don't wanna use it at all? Want to try it?

I love the qualities of lard, but I don't like the smell in the soap. I'm one of those who can smell it very strongly. I have another soaper's bar in my shower that I have used twice and I think I smell like bad bacon after I shower. [Yes there really is a bad time to smell like bacon... when you wake up at 3 am and the cats are licking your arms...] That bar will probably be going into the garbage tonight. Last spring I got 60-ish lbs of tallow from a friend and I can't smell that in the soap, so if I have to buy it, I will probably be buying tallow. If I get it for free, I'll live through the slight piggy smell because my customers don't notice it.

Do you find that it works best in combination with any specific oil/s, or it just goes with it all?

I use it at 25% with RBO, CO, shea, cocoa butter and castor. That's pretty much my go to recipe. I've also used it in combination with Palm and PKO, avocado, soybean, hemp, sunflower, safflower... there's not too many oils I haven't tried... and the good lard qualities come through will all the recipes I tried.

I would do a 100% lard bar because of what i've read here, too, if I ever find organic lard that's not cost prohibitive.

I've used 100% lard and I hated it. Not only was the pig smell gag worthy, but it was so drying to my skin. I have extremely dry skin, so keep that in mind, your skin might not be bothered.

Oh god no. I cant stand the smell of carnitas and i will only eat them if I really REALLY have to, but i can be a very happy mexican without eating carnitas ever again.

You can send your carnitas to me! They're my favorite. One of my Mexican colleagues gave me his wife's carnitas recipe... it's a staple at my house during the winter.

 

[Dawni]

What other types of meats do people eat in your area? For example, deer meat is very lean, and in my area (southeastern US), they eat a lot of acorns which makes the fat tasty strong/gamy. So the processors here throw out the deer fat and add pork or beef fat to the venison when they make sausage. So it could be the fat is being used that way.

Ooh I learned something new today! Yes, there is a sausage where I suspect a lot of the fat goes. Also, most people here can't afford to throw away anything that they can eat. That's one reason I can't eat the pork dishes here - 40% meat chunks and 60% fat chunks lol. They're big on pork chops too, again with the fat. I suspect it's the same for beef fat but it's not very common because beef is more expensive than pork.

Maybe try to find out where people get baking supplies, because lard is supposed to make excellent pie crusts and other baked goods?

That's where I thought I'd get it. There are none near me, I live just outside the city. The closest I could find is about an 2hrs back n forth, coz traffic is so bad. Which is why anything that can be delivered, if delivery costs are less or equal to my commute, is my best bet.

I am also wondering if it is typically called something else in your area? For example, beef fat is available in my area as shortening, but it doesn't say BEEF FAT or TALLOW on the packaging, it says "shortening" and then you read the ingredients.

Most people know lard. Some call it manteca, or we spell it as mantika. But mantika is the word for cooking oil in general so some have no idea lol I have no idea if there's a word for tallow. That one most have not heard of lol. I did an online search and we do have companies that make and srll them. I'm sure there is somewhere, just not anywhere easily, or cheaply accessible to me.

 

[bohunk]

I'm another fan of lard. I've been using lard in my soap for around 20 years. Currently, my recipe is 60% lard, 20% olive oil, 10% coconut oil and 10% castor. I can't smell the lard in my soaps and I haven't had customers, when I sold, nor family complain of a "piggy" smell. I OHP and keep the oil temps low. That's key I think when using any animal fat in soap. I've not experienced DOS with my soaps and I live in coastal Virginia; very humid here. My next adventure in lard is approaching an organic farmer here who raises khun khun pigs for slaughter and see if I can work out something with him with obtaining lard from him.

 

[lenarenee]

Eggs-celent, dahling.

Did you miss my reply? Because it's several posts above this one of yours...

(It didn't take me long. )

Yes I did - they popped up after I posted. (I'm having trouble with SMF website)

 

[Meena]

Yes I did - they popped up after I posted. (I'm having trouble with SMF website)

Not just you -- I've seen a handful of folks comment about different, random glitches since the new platform. It'll all work out and things will be smooth again.

https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/lets-talk-about-lard-baby.73670/#post-746381
So, what sayest thou?

 

[lenarenee]

Not just you -- I've seen a handful of folks comment about different, random glitches since the new platform. It'll all work out and things will be smooth again.

https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/lets-talk-about-lard-baby.73670/#post-746381
So, what sayest thou?

Wondering if it’s caused by MS’s last update. I have to reload every time something changes on the forum, then I get a security warning about the site’s TLR thing. Also have trouble getting my posts to actually post!

As for your toxin info, I don’t have an opinion yet. I’m not familiar with Ayurvedic medicine or what type of training one needs to claim the distinction, therefore reluctant to take it on face value. (I’m picky about my sources, because I’m smart enough to to be discerning, but not educated enough to make independent proclamations. Aka....many things I repeat from very reliable sources like my friends at NIH. There are fewer things I feel expert enough to teach as fact)

Nor have I done any further research on my own yet. It’s a fascinating subject though isn’t it? You seem to have done a lot of research so I couldn’t wait to pick your brain! If I can find them, I’ll grab my physiology and biology textbooks.

 

[MGM]

I made a 100% lard soap yesterday (because someone here said I could ). It got alien brain even though it wasn't very hot at all. It's still soft. It doesn't smell piggy, it smells like oranges.

 

[Hennyfer]

I have been doing around 20% CO, 80% lard- my partner does butchering for some local farmers and we rendered the fat from a very large pig this fall. The fat is pretty clean smelling, even the totally unscented bars smell very neutral. I'll need some time to determine if that will change. I was pretty careful when rendering so nothing was scorched. My biggest breakthrough came recently with learning how to calculate water based on lye percentage- reducing my water considerably to speed trace (and reduce the load on my hand blender!). A high-lard bar is a good choice for washing wool without stripping the natural oils- I used 5% CO for a little boost in cleaning power. I a new soaper, and can't offer much in the way of experience with older soaps. The lard was a choice to use local, inexpensive fat. CO is also very reasonably priced and gives a welcome boost for the lather/ cleansing. I have made and used 100% lard bars in the past and found them nice and gentle but others using them (friends and family) didn't care for the low lather factor. Hooray for soap calculators and knowledgeable forum members!

 

[KimT2au]

I use both lard and tallow, both of which I render myself. I render them outdoors in slow cookers as I cannot stand the smell of the hot fat, but once it has been cleaned and cooled I am fine. The smell of the soap batter makes my tummy roil but once the soap has cooled I am fine with it. I love my lard soap. Where I shop has a diverse ethnic make up and the butchers there are all nose to tail butchers and absolutely nothing goes to waste. I am lucky to be friendly with one butcher who gives me beef fat for free but he is a halal butcher so I have to go to another section of the markets to either of the two butchers there to purchase pig fat for which I pay $3/kg. Pig fat is, for me, cheap to purchase, easy to render, has other uses than just making soap (one of my dogs has it daily as he is prone to acidosis, plus some recipes I cook using lard) and as an added bonus I adore my lard based soaps.

 

[melinda48]

I wonder if the odor depends on the quality of the lard used. I love making soap with lard and have an exceptional sense of smell but have never been repulsed by the lard I use. Just a thought.