Rendering hog fat for lard

A couple weeks ago, we took our hog pig off to the butcher.  Yesterday Sam went and picked up the meat.   We kept half and sold the other half to a friend of ours.   She did turn out to be a nice hog, she weighed almost 290 lbs. and she dressed out at 210 lbs..  We ended up with 110 lbs of meat and the same for our friend who purchased the other half from us.  Not too bad, or at least I didn't so.  Last couple of times we had a hog butchered I  wasn't to get any fat back, not sure why, if Sam just forgot to tell our butcher of or what the deal was.  Well anyway, this time, I made sure he got some fat back from the butcher. lol   He ended up bring me back 45 lbs of hog fat to render down for lard. 

So last night, I started rendering it down.  I still have more to render, and will probably finish it up on Monday.   All I did was put the fat in a large roaster and a small amount of water to get it started and slowly cooked it down.   I added it to quarts jars.  The jar will seal on their own as they start cooling down. 

45 lbs of hog fat getting ready to go into a larger roaster. 

In the roaster, I add a small of amount of water and  I just let it cook slowly down.  The slower you let it cook down more of a whiter color it will be and the faster  you cook it  will be darker in color.

In the picture above it is slowly cooking down.  It will take a few hours, depending on how much you start with.   I was up to 3 in the morning working on this batch,  I should have started it earlier in the day.   I would love to  render some down over an open fire and see how it would turn out.   I didn't save any of  the cracklins from this batch. It was so late and I was ready for bed.

Here is the final  results,  9 quarts and 1 pint and half jars. 

I use lard in a lot different things.  I use it in my pie crusts and biscuits.   I love biscuits made with lard.  They turn out so tender.