Solid scientific studies have debunked the saturated fat-heart disease link, but I think it will still be years before government policies and nutritionists catch up. As you said, part of the problem is those awful little boxes at the supermarket are also labeled “lard”. Nutrition aside, lard is a hands-down winner in the taste department.

According to my understanding, if you boil 100% of the water and solids out, then nothing can grow in the lard (bacteria / fungus). The fat will still go rancid eventually based on their exposure to heat and light. We keep our lard in a kitchen cupboard, and our kitchen is pretty cool most of the year (40s to 50s in the winter, 70s average in the summer). Our current lard stock is about a year old and we haven’t noticed any difference in quality (other than the graininess, mentioned above, when it melted at one point during the summer).

We keep the opened jar on the counter or in a cupboard also, just like olive oil. Lard has a similar fat profile to olive oil, but with more saturated fat (which goes rancid more slowly). I’ve read that when animal fats go rancid, you know. I don’t know if this is true. The fat trimmings from our most recent pigs are still in the freezer, but when we render this next batch of lard I will probably put the finished jars back in the freezer as a little insurance. I hope to go 2 years before we raise pigs again, and I want the lard to last as long as possible.

It depends on how concerned you are about food safety I guess. We also keep eggs and butter at room temperature.

Amy – Thanks for the comments. We’ve never had any trouble with condensation, but we screw the lids on right away and let the boiling oil heat help seal the lids. Regarding the texture, the lard has fortunately rendered out smooth for us. We did notice last summer when the heat got around 100 outside that the lard in jars in our cupboard melted and when it solidified it took on a grainy texture thereafter. I wonder what’s going on to cause that, and why beef and pork fat might be different. Do you use beef fat in cooking similarly to lard?

I never thought of using a crockpot. (We don’t have one, either, though.) I know that when we get an oven working in the house again, that I hope to process the next batch in that. I’ve read that you can just put all the fat in a couple large casserole dishes, set the oven to a low heat, and leave it for hours. Seems like less work than stirring and screening out of a pot.