Praise The Lard - How To Make It

Praise the lard!
You've heard us say this before because lard really isn't the evil you may have been led to believe.

As you'll see in the video, Lard rendered at home is 2/3 unsaturated and contains oleic acid, the same ingredient that in olive oil helps break down cholesterol.

Lard was a very popular fat until the 1950s, when scientists discovered that animal fats could lead to heart disease.
But they didn't see the complete picture.
The stuff that replaced lard, like margarine and vegetable shortenings turned out to contain artery-clogging trans fats and hydrogenated fats.

So, if you wait long enough and everything that's suppose to be bad for you is good again., like
Chocolate and Caffeine.
But lard has always been a tough sell, but attitudes are charging and the good news, lard is making it's way back into the kitchen.

Lard is also so easy to make:  simply buy unsalted pork fat from your butcher and put in the freezer for a few minutes to harden. Place in a heavy duty frying pan and cook or on top of the stove.

Watch Zarela Martinez show you how to make lard:

Why lard may be better for you than vegetable oil

We now know coffee, chocolate and beer, along wine and alcohol in general may be good for you.
But are you ready for this: If you believe that saturated animal fat is bad for your health, think again.

As you are are most likely aware by now, trans fats acids are made by the hydrogenation of vegetable oil; a process that offers the oil a longer shelf life. But many studies have shown the trans fat acid is associated with a much higher risk of artery damage, heart disease, and even cancer.

This is where lard comes into our story.

Lard (rendered and clarified pig fat) we point out not only produces a flakier or tastier pie crust, it also produces delicious fried foods
But for those of you that believe lard spells danger, here's the lard resume:

Any guesses how lard stacks up? Not too badly, as it turns out. Lard contains:

• More monounsaturated fats ("good" fats) than sunflower oil and corn oil
• More polyunsaturated fats (also "good" fats) than olive oil
• Thirty percent less saturated fat than butter
• No trans fats at all!

But you are thinking perhaps lard will clog your arteries and strike you dead with a heart attack, right?

In a review of saturated fat studies that appeared last year in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the authors wrote that many mainstream researchers have narrowly focused on the hypothesis that saturated fat raises LDL cholesterol and the risk of coronary artery disease (CAD).

The authors write: "The evidence is not strong, and, overall, dietary intervention by lowering saturated fat intake does not lower the incidence of nonfatal CAD; nor does such dietary intervention lower coronary disease or total mortality."

They also wrote: "The conclusion of an analysis of the history and politics behind the diet-heart hypothesis was that after 50 years of research, there was no evidence that a diet low in saturated fat prolongs life."

And similar observations have been noted often by US physician Dr William Campbell Douglass II.
Dr. Douglass wrote: "Countless studies show that the MORE animal fats people eat, the better their heart health."
If you are looking for evidence take a look at the African Masai, North American Eskimos, Greeks, and the French, they all consume diets that are extremely high in saturated animal fats.
Astonishingly, they have low rates of heart disease, hypertension, and coronary episodes.

So the point is this, we have stopped listening to all the doomsayers and naysayers, and we don't fear the lard.