The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1888-05-30
HOW LARD Is RENDERED,
AN EXPLANATION OF THE MANU-
FACTURE OF THIS ARTICLE.
why Modern Steam Rendered Lard
is Better Than the ola Kettle
Dried" Product.


is Better Than the ola Kettle
Dried Product
Lard is defined in Webster's Dictionary
as "the fat of swine after being melted |
and separated from the flesh.n This is
generic, and is in contradistinction to
tallow, which is /" the suet or fat of ami
mails of the sheep or OK kind separated
from membranous and ibrous matter by
melting it down" Previous to the Civil
War, when Cincinnati was the great
packing centre of the United States and
when the State of Ohio packed more
hogs than all the other States combined,
the rendering of lard was conducted
at the packing-houses in the same man.
ner, but on much larger scale, as was
practiced by the country and village
housewives of the period The leaf lard
and trimmings from the hams and sides
were cut up into pieces about the size of
a walnut and thrown into big iron ket-
tie set in brick work. Fire was applied,
and as soon as the fat began to melt
continuous stirring became necessary to
prevent the boiling grease from burning.
Those who have lived in the country and
seen the farmers wife trying out the lard
stripped at the annual hog-killing will
remember the odor that attached to the
operation. 1t remained in the house for
several days. As soon as the pieces of
meat adhering to the lard were cooked
crisp the lard was pronounced "done."
The fire was banked, and as soon as the
''cracklings" " had sunk to the bottom
workmen armed with large scoops
dipped the cooling lard into the barrels
and tierces, in which it was afterward
shipped to the consumers at home and
abroad.
The operation of rendering by fire was
not always a successful one. Sometimes
the lard was not "cooked enough, and
hence was liable to become rancid in
warm weather. More often it was over
done and scorched to a greater or less
degree. In either event there was loss
to the packer. Hence some other mode
of rendering became desirable. The use
| of steam at low pressure for melting
sugar and cleaning sugar hogheads was
well known. The author of the first
| application of steam to trying out lard
is not known. However, the process
came in vogue in 1858. The tanks of
! that period were made of wood and were
! of less than one-th'rd of the capacity of
the iron tanks now in use. In the
kettles nothing but the leaf lard, the
trimmings and the bright pieces of fat
carefully picked from the intestines
were used. In the steam tank 70 the
three varieties mentioned were added
/ the heads after they had been carefully
scraped and washed Sometimes the
heads were rendered separately, 1t was
the time when lard oil was largely
used for illumination purposes--pe-
troleum had not then become thoroughly
utilized and was much higher in price than
now-aud many Of the old-time hackers
well remember when lard made from
pigs heads sold for more than prime
leaf, because of its greater percentage of
OIL
On its first production there was
pre- eIudice against the steam-rendered
lard. The consumers as a rule knew all
about the kettle. rendered article. Most
of them had seen the operation performed
on a small scale, but the steamed variety
they did not understand Hence was
the origin of "kettle drying" After
being cooked in the tanks the lard was
allowed to run into shallow pans, say
eight feet long and four feet vide, where
it was allowed to simmer over a slow fire
for short time before being placed in
the tierces. 1t was popularity, but err
roneously, supposed that this simmering
evapOrated considerable amount of
water that had lodged in the lard during
the steaming process. For many years
after the war "kettle- dried lard com
manded sight premium over the steam
rendered, but this in time disappeared,
when the latter became the standard
article.
The "gut lard"- that around the lower
intestines ard the tank bottoms were
worked up and rendered into SOAP grease,
known in the trade as white, yellow and
brown. The "white" was the lightest-
colored and, of course. the best. The
names of the Others explain themselves.
At the present time there are known to
the trade four varieties of lard;
"Kettle-rendered, " in which the lard
is rendered by a steam coil in a jacket,
the steam being at high pressure. This
is composed of pure leaf, trimmings, and
the carefully selected pieces from the up
per intestines.
''Prime steam" composed of three
kinds med and the heads. The rem
dcring is done with open steam in iron
tanks, twelve feet long and six feet in
diameter.
Refined lard " is the article over
which there has been so much agitation
in Congress This is composed of from
fifteen to twenty-five per cent. of cotton
seed oil, ten per cent. of stearine, and
sixty five TO seventy per cent. of
steam lard. The article intended for
consumption in the South or for export
to Cuba Central or South America, con-
tains a larger proportion Of cotton-seed
oil than that which is used in the
Northern latitudes.
Pure leaf lard is the article as stripped
from the slaughterer's hog, and is so d to
the bulterine manufacturers, who sep
arate the membranous portion from it
and make neutral article, which enters
largely into the composition of the bogus
butter The first two articles are the
only ones known on the Board of Trade
and subject TO its rules of inspection. -
chi ago Tribune.