The truth about lard - what you were told was wrong
I think most of us are keenly in tune with the old “buyer beware” saying when perusing the wares of an unknown vendor even if the product sounds like a great deal, but do we apply the same caution when we are relaxing infront of our TV screens? I suspect not!
Vintage Crisco ad 1937, Proctor & Gamble
Being showcased the next “best thing” by our safe and friendly big box brands who have just come across some “new research”, is an age old tactic, usually tied to a “new product”, that is going to solve the nations pain point in exchange for their next billion in consumer spending. And it works.
You can now raise your hand if you were one of the gullible ones (like me) who bought into the lie that eating saturated fat was fast track way to having a heart attack.
My excuse is that both my grandfathers grew up on bacon dripping and were not afraid to spread some grease on their bread as a treat, both of them, sadly, died of heart trouble in the 80’s, and so of course we all thought the reason was lack of education around dietary cholesterol. No one at that time really seemed to think of tobacco or other lifestyle factors as a risk, and so we all learned to pay attention to the new ‘heart healthy’ oils and spreads being sold and happily walked away from terrible products like lard!!
Well….you probably by now figured out that what you were told about Lard was a doozy… but it wasn’t just a misunderstood science paper that went viral, no… it was nothing other than an intentional ploy to divert your dollars towards a product that was going to make the rich a lot richer…
…..are you ready for some facts you can only find on page 20356732222994 of Google?!!!...
Lard was demonized as an unhealthy fat in the early 20th century
In 1948 the American Heart Association received $1.7 million, or about $20 million in today's dollars, from Procter & Gamble (P&G), the makers of Crisco oil
Coincidentally Proctor and Gamble launched a huge advertising campaign to promote Crisco as the ‘better health alternative’ to lard
The idea that saturated fats cause heart disease, called the diet-heart hypothesis, was introduced in the 1950s, based on weak, associational evidence.
Subsequent clinical trials attempting to substantiate this hypothesis could never establish a causal link
Fast forward 30 years and thanks to the internet, consumers have more option, more information and easier access to things like scientific research.
Aside from now being able to read for ourselves that highly processed products like crisco actually create trans fats, which we also can now demonstrate increase the risk of heart disease. It is also now nice to have access to the scientific research carried out on lard so we don’t have to make decisions in the dark!!
( now i will caveat that for the following to hold true, the Lard MUST be from pasture raised hogs fed a natural diet - read more about why pasture raised pork is healthier here, )
If you have been toying with the idea of giving lard a 2nd chance here are some facts that will probably get you pretty excited!
The fat profile of pasture raised lard is lower in Saturated fat than butter
Pasture raised lard is about 47% Oleic acid - also known as Omega 9 - the SAME fatty acid that makes olive oil so healthy - it actually helps to LOWER cholesterol!!
Lard is a fat which has a high smoke point and is safer for high heat cooking than vegetable oils
Natural Lard does not contain trans fats ( beware that most commercially produced lard is hydrogenated and contains trans fats)
Lard is one of the best sources of vitamin D
My lard jar! Snowy white, pure premium home rendered lard from pasture raised pigs.
So this is my lard jar, Its a gallon, and i'm onto my second one this year already!! I'll admit i started using Lard with caution, even though we have raised and produced our own - I just wasn't used to it... I started using it to fry with, to oven roast veggies, then i started using it in so many recipes, because as you now know, it actually IS better than butter!!! If you would like to check out some of my favourite ways use lard, then head over to “my top 10 ways to use lard” post and trust me, there were never more true words spoken than “Lard will make the best pie crust you EVER had”!!
