question on tallow

[bob.e]

I hear everyone expounding on the merits of tallow I read the post on how to make tallow and see it as mostly just rendered fat after seeing all that work I question why not use Lard it's cheap & readily available and should it not work as well???

[soapbox]

I hear everyone expounding on the merits of tallow I read the post on how to make tallow and see it as mostly just rendered fat after seeing all that work I question why not use Lard it's cheap & readily available and should it not work as well???

Short answer: the fatty acid composition of tallow is different from lard. Not a huge difference, but it is different. Making soap with lard is entirely possible, but it's not common, maybe because lard has a resale value on its own, whereas tallow isn't as popular in the restaurant/food service industry? I think lard makes a softer soap too, but I might be wrong about that.

[cfriend]

Because everyone knows what lard is, and most people don't know what tallow is. To the layman reading a product label, "lard" translates to "PIG FAT;" whereas "tallow" translates to "ANOTHER WORD I DON'T RECOGNIZE."

[soapbox]

Because everyone knows what lard is, and most people don't know what tallow is. To the layman reading a product label, "lard" translates to "PIG FAT;" whereas "tallow" translates to "ANOTHER WORD I DON'T RECOGNIZE."

Plus, try printing "sodium lardate" and see what happens to your sales! Either let manufacturers print "Ingredients: soap made from tallow and olive oil" or else make them print "sodium oleate, sodium stearate, sodium myristate, sodium palmitate, sodium alpha-linolenate, and sodium linoleate" (the most common fatty acids in tallow), plus a similar list for olive oil.

[gurana]

wait a min... tallow is animal fat!?

[cfriend]

wait a min... tallow is animal fat!?

[gollum83]

wait a min... tallow is animal fat!?

Um, yeah? Didn't you get the memo?

[Jim]

MMMmmmm BBQ and shave soap!

[Obsessed]

There's just something disturbing about that image.