I'm rendering the hog fat into lard from the hog we butchered last week. Carla Emery says to add a little baking soda to the rendering lard for whiteness, which I've done, but is there anything that will help to lessen the awful smell? Would vinegar work? I know you can use vinegar to clean rancid fat, but this fat is not rancid. Also, should I feed the bits of meat and stringy fat that is left over to the other pigs or is that not such a good idea. Thanks for any input.

-- Mary in East TN (barnwood@preferred.com), April 16, 2002

Answers

Sorry, but the smell is just part of the process as far as I know. We never add anything but water and a little salt to the fat. Cook it all. After it is cooked, feed it to anything or eat it yourself. Put some cracklings in your cornbread if you want a real feast. Robin

-- Robin Downing (Southpawrobin1@aol.com), April 16, 2002.

Mary, I'm not going to be much help, I've never had a problem with a bad smell when I render our lard, (smells like cracklins). BUT when I have used lard for soap making, sometimes it has an off odor. I use vitamin E in my soap to get rid of the smell. I just break open a couple of vitamin E caps and use the liquid inside. Let me know if you try the vinegar, I'd like to know if it works. Best wishes!

-- cowgirlone in ok (cowgirlone47@hotmail.com), April 16, 2002.

No - don't feed cannibalistically (anyone heard of BSE? Or kuru?). If you're not going to eat the crackling yourself, break it up and feed it to the chickens (or dogs, or cats).

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), April 16, 2002.

Mary, your fire is not hot enough. Lingering smell should only last as long as water (steam) is boiling off. When lard is rendered, the fire should be hot enough that if you fling cold water on the kettle surface it should sizzle.

-- Dennis Enyart (westwoodcaprine@yahoo.com), April 18, 2002.

Thanks for all your answers. I think the odor came from too much blood mixed in with the fat. High heat or low heat didn't make a difference with the smell, it was still gross. I finally threw out the remains (actually buried them). I, too, was concerned about disease, but wasn't sure.

-- Mary in East TN (barnwood@preferred.com), April 18, 2002.