Rendering Lard

This weekend we finally got our hog picked up that we have purchased from Sequatchie Cove Farm. They are a local, grass fed and organic farm that raises beef, lamb and pork. We have bought grass fed beef before but never pork and of course we raise our own lamb. Maybe someday our "mini" guinea hog will be able to supply us with babies to eat but currently---it's a no go. So we buy from others when we can.
And though this post is about rendering lard I just wanted to say that the pork chops and their surrounding of heritage pig fat---was outstanding. To die for. Magnificent. I ate all my meat along with every bite of the edging of fat---which I usually hate. The flavor was mmm mmm good. I don't know if I will ever be able to go back to store bought pork. I can't wait to eat them again. I never knew fat could be so darn flavorful and delicious. I could get fat with my new enjoyment of grass fed pork.

Originally when we put in our order for our hog, I was asked how I wanted my hog cut and at that time I put in a request for the lard from my hog also. They thought it an odd request but hey---the customer is always right aye?
My thought though was what better substitute for the crisco in my baked goods. Yes, I know some people just can't imagine eating "lard" (leaf or other fat) in their baked goods but our farming forefathers did for eons. It's natural and good for you and something we shouldn't be scared of. Remember the same "organization" that tells us raw milk is very very bad for us also was the original that told us fat was too. The health industry now realizes if that if ingested within moderation that it may not be as bad for us as originally thought. Of course there is a large difference between grain fed and finished meat/fat versus pasture raised meat/fat which we need to keep in mind when discussing this topic. Supposedly grain finished livestock fat and meat is not as good for you. A topic that has much written about it.
I was curious though about how bad my lard was for me compared to butter or crisco, which would be my normal substitute, and here is what I found out.

1 Tbsp of butter has 0.4g polyunsaturated; 3g monounsaturated; 7.3g saturated.
1Tbsp of lard has 1.4g polyunsaturated; 5.8g monounsaturated; 5g saturated.
1 Tbsp of olive oil has 0.5g polyunsaturated; 3.3g monounsaturated; .6g saturated
1Tbsp of crisco has 4.6g polyunsaturated; 5.2g monounsaturated; 2.3g saturated

Olive oil wins overall but you can't use it to make great flaky biscuits or pie crusts. However when it comes to using the lard instead of Crisco---the benefits in my opinion are obvious. Another thing to consider is that my information was taken from the USDA site. Did they use grass fed cows for that butter? Or grass fed pork for that lard? I doubt it. Crisco also now has "trans fat free" crisco but we are still talking about a corn product which is absolutely GM corn and not organically grown versus a fat from an organically raised pig. There is nothing gross about that at all---but there is something gross about that corn product.

So, now a short tutorial on rendering pig lard. Leaf is the best lard---it is from the area around the kidneys of the animal (beef and sheep also have this nice fine lard but it is called suet for them) and is the best most "flavor free" lard. Then there is also lard from other parts of the body. If you use the other fat from a pig, it can potentially give you a slight "piggy" flavor so be aware of this when choosing and buying your fat to render. Some things are fine with that bit of flavor---but maybe not your apple pie.

To render lard, just chop it up the best you can (smaller pieces will render faster) and put it in a heavy pot with a bit of water on the bottom. Put the pot on low heat or in the oven on about 225.

Stir as often as you can remember. It will take hours to render. You can speed the process up a little by squishing the whole bit with a potato masher once it’s started to melt. (their funky when you squoosh them---but watch out don't get burnt!)

During this part don’t be tempted to turn the heat up---you could burn the fat or make it strong tasting. Nice and slow is the key here. By the way this is good for a cold day to help warm your house.

When the un melted bits start to sink, strain off the nice, clear lard using cheese cloth and put it into some jars. Canning jars are great for this. Fill to within about an inch and half and then cool. You can store them in the fridge for a few months or in the freezer pretty much indefinitley. Better yet---give some as gifts and remake a new batch a couple times a year.

If it looks like there’s still a lot of fat on what’s left, put it back on the heat to render some more. This second batch will be stronger tasting than the first (the first batch is your pie crust batch) but still useful for things like cornbread and greens—and frying, of course.

I forgot where my cheese cloth was so I don't have any strained pictures to show---I will finish tomorrow :-) Also, though you can use all the "leftover" bits for breads, soups, greens etc (many ideas abound for making use of every last bit) your chickens or other feathered friends like them just fine too. So feed away!

Bathed in Rain and Sun

"A well planned garden
bathed in rain and sun.
A faithful laborer...
and the harvest shall come.

Well finally it rained again here--not all day as we hoped, but without the tornadoes that the other states received--which is good. The sun is now out and the wind is even windier.
Yesterday, in anticipation of the rain, I spent most of the day planting beans. Emerite Filet runner beans (my favorite to can), Goldmarie vining yellow bean--new to me this year, black turtle bush beans and kabuli black garbanzo beans for humus. The runners went into the garden area that we had leaves dumped in, fenced and that I blogged about this year. I had some poles already sunk in the ground that my clematis had been on (all of which have been moved) so all I had to do was put up string for them to climb on.
The bush beans are not planted in the garden but in a plot in the front yard. It is a spot where two of the rams lived in a large pen during part of the winter. We had put them up in the front yard specifically to add leaves, have them "manure" into it, and then let it sit for a couple of months--- for the very reason of using it to plant corn or beans or pumpkins or something into it. It should be a good bush bean spot since when I dig down it's still nice and moist with lots of worms.
Then today---while it rained-- I got another bed planted with some of the corn seed I purchased this year. Bloody butcher heirloom. It too is right in the front yard. We have a large front yard---good for more than just mowing in my opinion. Since we aren't in a subdivision I don't have to try and "hide" my corn in the front with flowers or anything----I can just plant a huge square of it. I am going to sow either more bush beans or buckwheat in between after the corn comes up though for some diversification.
I also have a second square still to sow and will put Country Gentlemen shoepeg corn into it. The wind was blowing (still is) and I started to get cold since I was soaked---so I stopped. However it is I will get it planted since I love love shoepeg corn, and country gentlemen is an open pollinated heirloom also. One of the corns is a 110 day and the other is closer to 85 so hopefully they will not tassle at the same time. Corn needs plenty of distance (like a mile or something) to make 100% sure it doesn't cross with another. The only way to ensure true seed without the the distance factor being an issue is to plant corns that tassle/flower at different times. I have never grown either of these so I will see, in about July, whether it is going to work or not. Either way they should still be good to eat and maybe can too. Or if I ever get a grain mill---bloody butcher can also be used for grinding. Red tortillas anyone?

So now after the last bad frost I still have growing, planted or started in cups:
corn
artichokes (all made it through the frost!)
tomatoes---some made it and I added another 20 plants since
potatoes---they all made it fine
squash
melons--3 different heirlooms
cucumbers---two burpless types
beans
and basil and dill

I still need to start or plant:
pumpkins
peanuts
some sunflowers
the rest of my corn
sweet potatoes
and.....I am sure there is something I am forgetting. Every time I look in my seeds I find something that I forgot I had bought this year. So I will keep going and hopefully by the end of next week all will be in the garden or at least in cups to sprout and later transplant. I do however still have to order my sweet potato slips----so they may fall to the side this year. We will see.

Good gardening everyone!

My first Freecycle

Well, after listening to Cheryl go on and on :-) about all her great freecycle "things" --I looked and found a Chattanooga freecycle. I just knew with the great items Cheryl was picking up that I must be missing some really good stuff. So, I joined a while back --but hadn't really needed anything that was offered (or was to late seeing it to get it). As of today though, I have finally gotten my first item--I am an almost official freecycler (official will be when I have something to offer I believe). Actually it is more than one thing--it is 80 things. Since posting about the canning I decided that with as big as a garden as I was aspiring to----I would probably need more canning jars than I currently own. So I put a "wanted" ad on freecycle. Well my first reply (only one so far) netted me 76 canning jars and 4 fig tree cuttings. Yes, the man was very nice---and with my interest in his figs, gave me four cuttings. So, since figs do generally root fairly easily---hopefully this next year will see me with 4 new trees. I love figs! My favorite way is with homemade focaccia with marscapone/mascarpone cheese and dried figs stuck down in the cheese and cooked. Yum.
AND lucky me I had a bed area all prepped for them. It was where I thought I wanted my asparagus to go this next year so I had dumped manure on it earlier this fall. Then put leaves on it when I received so many from the city drop off. Now those figs have a lovely lovely spot to reside in (and the asparagus has a new different lovely spot) and I have my fingers crossed they will like it A LOT.
Figs are suppose to grow here in my area, but the two small rooted cuttings I brought from my last house barely did anything and ended up dying on me. I have to admit----I didn't plant them in the best soil. Of course I didn't know it was some of the worst soil we have when we moved here. It is only after most everything planted in that area struggled to die (yes---struggled to die) that we realized it was. We are working on that problem but I felt the figs would be better in the prepped area than in the "other, less nice" area even if the "other, less nice area" gets more heat and sun (exactly what figs like--heat and sun).
I don't know what variety these figs are but I will hedge a guess that they are probably brown turkey. A very cold hardy and proliferate fig that is commonly grown in this area---and a lot of other areas around the country.
The original owner of this house had a fig right off our back porch to shade the sliding doors during the summer. With the south face and brick wall supposedly it was almost as tall as our two story house! And almost as wide. Now I would have loved to see that BUT the summer before we bought the house it was ripped out since it had been planted on top of the septic leach field and it plugged up the lines. No wonder it grew so big!! I did see the massive amounts of canned figs they had when we were looking at the house so obviously they were using it to it's fullest extent.
Well, in regards to my original freecycle quest: hopefully I will get more canning jars. And every so often I think I will re ask. Better to do it now than this summer when everyone else will want them too. The early bird gets the worm they always say. Now I just have to figure out where to store all of these new jars.

Canning

So the other day I came across a great deal for some old bail wire canning jars. I actually bought more than these but the big one in the picture (I never remember sizes of canning jars) is the only one of that size that I bought. I have drooled over these for years now--- so I know what prices they run both used and new. I had never purchased any before---I think as much for the reason that I wasn't really serious about them. When I saw them for a super low price---I snapped them up. I bought 8 altogether. There were 11 being sold but one had a broken lid, one had a rim "chip/blemish" and the last had a very very rusty wire (evidence of high usage or something).
I will use these for jellies/jams, salsas and possibly vanilla pear chunk. We will more than likely give them as gifts. See---I am already planning for xmas this year :-) Maybe I won't though since I like them so much hehehe.
You can also by the newer bail type snap jars and bottles in the store when you buy specialty foods. We drink an "adult" soda pop---real sugar only thank you---that comes with that type of lid. I keep all of them to store my vinegars in. I still need a few more---I don't drink it very often so it is taking a while. We make our own salad dressings so we use many many types of vinegar. The gaskets don't seem to really wear out so they are re usable for a long time to store in. That observation brings me to the next part of my post: RUBBERS or in the case of the canning jars-- rubber gaskets aka---gaskets.
No matter by which name you call them if you want to buy/use/reuse any type of bailing wire jar, especially for canning, you will eventually need gaskets. Now I don't know how many times a gasket can be canned with before it's deemed bad. I would imagine in the frugal older days it was more than once. Now you will find many web sites stating that you should never ever use that style of jar---only the USDA recommended screw lid jars. Now I ask you---do you trust completely and 100% the USDA's advice? Feel that they are working with your best interest at heart? I didn't think so-- besides if that were the case why would they allow food to be sold in stores in those type of jars?? A lot of the food found in the stores in those type jars is imported from Europe where the gasket canning jar is still very popular and well used. An observation that leads me to believe my leg might be getting pulled just a little bit.
Lehmans has replacement gaskets and some types of bail wire jars (new) to purchase and overall they are a good price. Weck canning actually sells direct so their prices are pretty good too, actually better than Lehmans since you are buying direct. They are pricey though---more so than if you buy regular screw lid canning jars. If you are really going for a certain look to your gift or want to use them to display with though well....I guess if your going to buy new at least it's a canning jar that can be used over and over for a good purpose and not a plastic toy. I know that I will eventually end up purchasing some depending on what I decide for specific gifts. All in all they make a homemade gift look "more expensive" than a regular jar does---and unfortunately when giving to some people that DOES matter.

As an end note: Besides knowing that people use them to store dried and other foods in I also found that some people score the used gaskets to allow a small amount of air out and ferment Kimichi in the jars--intriguing use for the bail jars.

Here are some other places that sell bail wire jars and some other styles---there are a number of different brands. Not all sites have the best prices so search a bit if you are interested in some of them. Search words include European style, French style, bail wire, gasket etc.
Village Kitchen -- click canning jars in the glass index section to the right of the home page. They also carry La Parfait which is a bail wire jar that we purchase a product (infrequently) in. It has a nice bail to it---not flimsy feeling.
Sur La Table -- Leifheit canning jars
And a nice little article: here


Update 1/19/07 Actually I have made a number of calls about these jars and all say that as long as they seal--they are fine. Sealing is noticed by the top staying on when the bail is released and a "tug" is needed to pull it off the gasket also no fluid should leak out when it is tipped. All of the people questioned (a person from Lehmans, and ag person that handles canning questions and another older ag type person) said that though the ring type were now most common that these are perfectly safe as long as: no chips in rim or lids, no cracks (obviously), and that the bail is not so loose and floppy that it doesn't really hold down the lid to the gasket. In that case the lid might not be pulled down enough to start the sealing process. I don't think I will can soup with them but high sugar (jams/jellies) and high acid (pickles) won't make me nervous at all. Both high sugar and high acid don't really HAVE to have a sealed environment in the sense that soup, meat or some other foods do.
So now everyone can make their own choice. Here is the following advice on how to can with a bail wire jar:
The jars with wire bails and glass lids are still in use, although they haven't been manufactured for many years. A wet rubber ring is fitted over the neck so that it rests on the glass ledge of the jar. The glass lid is placed so that it rests on the ring. The long wire bail is set in place in the groove on the top of the lid, and the second bail is left in the up position. After processing, and while the jar is still hot, you should push the second bail down against the side of the jar. When the jars are cool, test the seal by tilting each jar.

When using any of these jars, do not attempt to open them to replace any liquid lost during processing.