On February 9, I placed my first order ever for leaf lard, through my CSA. This is a big step for me.
I have plans to render it. I’ve never rendered leaf lard before, but I’m pretty excited about the prospect of doing so. As I’ve become more aware of the benefits of saturated fats, lard has come out on top as a good fat – it’s also a traditional fat, as people have been using it for years. Centuries, probably. This puts it in the real food category.
Like many people my age, I grew up fearing the lard – it always held negative connotations, and was considered “unclean” and bad for you. Ironically, growing up we always had a big container of Crisco (trans-fats) in the pantry (mostly for use in chocolate chip cookies), and plenty of margarine (more trans-fats) in the refrigerator. Nowadays neither of those things are in my kitchen, and I regard them as unusable. And unhealthy.
Although I mentioned that lard is a saturated fat, it really is only partly-so. It actually contains less saturated fat than butter. Lard consists of 39% saturated fat (butter is 50%), 45% monounsaturated fat and 11% polyunsaturated fat. It’s a fat that I think more people would benefit from adding to their diet.
Now the lard (aka manteca) that you often see piled up at the grocery store has been hydrogenated. Why do they do this to lard, which is already stable (solid) at room temperature? Perhaps to extend its life even more, I honestly don’t know. What I do know is that you should stay far, far away from it. Hydrogenation produces trans fats and they are seriously detrimental to your health.
I’ll post more when I receive the lard and after I render it. I plan to make some pastry with it, and use if for frying eggs. Awww, yeah!
Photo source: Wikimedia Commons, The Boston cooking-school cook book, Boston, Little, Brown, and Company, 1916. Photo in the public domain.
