Metal.

Do you have any of the large popcorn cans with lids ??

 

PLEASE correct me if I am wrong, but ALL the animal/veggie oils I have seen have expiration dates and at some point in time they go rancid.

TRUE????????

 

Certainly. However if you can it, then it will last significantly longer.

 

I stored mine in the freezer. I do hope you plan on rendering it OUTSIDE<smile>. I gave up on tallow and use olive oil for soap now. A few years of rendering tallow and I was DONE! Have fun.

Liebrecht

 

Render, strain until very clean.

Freeze and cut into blocks or freeze in smaller containers.

Vacuum package (air = rancid)

Keep frozen if possible.


333

(Remember it will spoil over time, then use for candles)

 

We have some that we canned. It lasts for many years this way.

 

Mason jars in the freezer? I have lard stored that way but as soon as it cools down a bit I want to try pressure canning some jelly jars of lard (small amount so I don't waste too much if it doesn't work) and test a jar every couple of months for shelf life.

 

Thanks, it looks like mason jars is the way to go. I have one jar canned now as i sit here. Gonna give it a go and see how it tastes when used for cooking.

 

The buckets will be fine. That's how they sell and ship lard. But it's not going to keep well. I think I'd want to pour it into as airtight of containers as possible, as close to the brim as possible, to eliminate as much O2 as I could. Even then it's probably not going to last terribly well. Fats are just problematic in storage.

 

Mikek, everything i have read online is that tallow stores very well and for long term. I wonder if the storeage life is dependant on storeage container. This jar of tallow i have right now is a few months old and is just fine. I just opened it, and its just fine. I think im going to give pig fat a try, maybe bison fat if i can find any.

 

The container is going to determine how much O2 exposure it gets. O2 and heat is the big enemy of fats. It causes them to go rancid. If I remember right, the more saturated a fat is the longer it stores? Maybe that has something to do with it also.

 

I store mine neatly packaged into candles and bars of soap.

 

please do a video of all this, I have to see this. Seems like it will be messy.

 

Mikek, from what i have read, Tallow is very high in saturated fats, and apparently they store very well. Im willing to bet, that if i use the buckets with good lids and fill them to the top, i should be able to have something that stores for a long time. Or, i could try mylar and hope i dosent melt....

 

You're still going to be dealing with rancidity issues sooner or later. Even lard, which is pretty saturated too, is treated with BHA or BHT as an antioxidant to help delay rancidity and it is only good for maybe a couple years, if that.

One thing I've noticed though is that canned fats, such as tuna or sardines in oil, last pretty much forever. I wonder if the canning process doesn't drive O2 out of solution in the fat, and the can protects it from further exposure. If so, canning fats might be a true long term solution.

I've had the hardest time trying to find any research on that. I've also tried to research storage life of fats with antioxidants added and have come up pretty empty too.

 

One thing I've noticed though is that canned fats, such as tuna or sardines in oil, last pretty much forever. I wonder if the canning process doesn't drive O2 out of solution in the fat, and the can protects it from further exposure. If so, canning fats might be a true long term solution.

They typically use Cottonseed oil, very stable, inside a sealed METAL can, no light can enter and are generally stored in a cool place such as kitchen cabinet or store shelf.

 

When we say canning fats/oils i dont think were talking about using a pressure canner are we? Becuase when i made my first batch and poured it into the mason jar, with the liquid at full temprature straight off the stove, after a few minutes the lid sucked down on its self just like it would in a pressure canner.. Im going to make a a batch of 3 jars this weekend and put them on a shelf and forget them for a couple years... Just as a experiment.

Im also going to get a food grade bucket and let you know what happens.

Fats are a important thing post poopfanning. There will likely be a period of a year or more, were we have to live solely on our prepps, and we need fats/oils for our bodies. You never know, if that first years crops will fail, or if you wont find any livestock to raise. Who knows when you well get fatty meats up and running again. I think this is a important discussion to have, and find out the best way for all of us to store them.

 

When we say canning fats/oils i dont think were talking about using a pressure canner are we? Becuase when i made my first batch and poured it into the mason jar, with the liquid at full temprature straight off the stove, after a few minutes the lid sucked down on its self just like it would in a pressure canner.. Im going to make a a batch of 3 jars this weekend and put them on a shelf and forget them for a couple years... Just as a experiment.

It depends on the product as to how it was canned. A lot of stews and seafood are canned at pressure cooker temperatures. But there are a lot of other things that aren't.

I'm big into ethnic foods, and I've bought all sorts of imported foods in glass jars (or sometimes cans), that were put up in olive oil with no preservatives. I've had them last for many years. Yet olive oil itself in a glass bottle won't last that long without going rancid. The only difference I can think of is that one was heat canned and the other wasn't.

 

THere has to be something were missing.. My internet research keeps telling me, that as long as its in a air tight container it should last a few years. I think the thing were going to have to focus on is on using it so that it isnt hanging out more then a year or so. Then we must find a source of fat to render as soon as possible. Which is going to be the trick.

I dont see pressure canning pure renderd fat working out very well. I can see it leaking out during the process, also i worry that the heat involved in pressure canning could burn the tallow wich gives it a bad burnt taste.

 

There's definately something missing. And there's frustratingly little data on the net about preserving fats. So for now, about all I can come up with is to get the fats that last the longest and keep them rotated.

I have a theory though. And since I have no actual data to back it up, it's only a theory and could be completely off base. O2 can dissolve in some things. Like pouring flat water back and forth a few times to oxygenate it so it tastes better. I wonder if O2 dissolves in fat too. And during canning, this extra O2 is driven out of the fat.

I know I've taken glass bottles of olive oil and topped them up to eliminate as much headspace gas as possible, then sealed them tight. Only to have them go rancid anyway. Yet canned fats with more headspace gas do not.

The jars of foods in olive oil that I have bought are most likely not pressure canned, so I don't think that the high temperatures would even be required to do it. As far as I know, oil is not a botulism growth medium by itself. Things like butter might be because of the milk solids, but I don't think oil itself is.

But, in the discussion about the refried beans blowing the lids off jars, a link was posted. At the link they mentioned that home canners are not really equipped to can thick purees or pure fats. So apparently there is a particular technique to it. But again, I can find no data.

One of the things not discussed here as often as it should be is sources of fats post SHTF. Not everyone is going to be able to raise enough animals, and some, like rabbits, don't have enough fat anyway. Growing oil crops and pressing the oils is one possibility. There are relatively affordable oil presses available.

 

Pressure canning will not burn lard.

You must heat lard to render it.

We can lard most every year.