How to Make Cooking Oil and Fat

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Store-bought butter doesn’t begin to compare to homemade, creamy butter made from the milk of a healthy cow.
Store-bought butter doesn’t begin to compare to homemade, creamy butter made from the milk of a healthy cow.
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Oscar H. Will III raises mulefoot hogs on his Kansas farm.
Oscar H. Will III raises mulefoot hogs on his Kansas farm.
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To make lard, use chopped or ground fat from healthy hogs.
To make lard, use chopped or ground fat from healthy hogs.
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Be sure to grow an oilseed sunflower variety for a high oil-to-seed ratio.
Be sure to grow an oilseed sunflower variety for a high oil-to-seed ratio.
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The manually operated Piteba press is a great option for small-scale cooking oil production.
The manually operated Piteba press is a great option for small-scale cooking oil production.

If you pride yourself on doing most of your grocery shopping in your backyard (“Tomatoes? Check. Eggs? Check. Berries? Check.”), you may be interested in learning how to make cooking oils and render your own cooking fats. Making creamy butter, rendering lard and tallow from pork and beef fat, or coaxing nuts or seeds to give up their liquid riches is worth your time.

How to Make Butter

Butter is simple to make. Step 1: Milk your cow. No cow? Find a local source of heavy cream. Add the cream to a quart canning jar until the jar is one-third full. Screw on the lid and shake the jar until you see the butter bits separate from the liquid, which is now buttermilk. You can also make butter much faster using a blender or food processor.

Strain the butter bits out of the buttermilk and place the fresh butter in a bowl. Use a paddle or spatula to press the butter under cold, running water until the water runs clear. Some sources recommend salting at this stage to remove the last of the buttermilk. One quart of heavy cream can yield up to 1 pound of butter. To make even better-tasting cultured butter, read How to Make Butter That Is Really Flavorful.

Rendering Lard

  • Published on Nov 5, 2013
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