So you're lost and desperately hungry, and come across an old trapper's cabin with a tin of 1940s lard in the cupboard. Dare you eat it?

ROSTOCK - A German pensioner who had kept a tub of lard in his cupboard for 64 years, took it to authorities who pronounced it very much fit for consumption - if a little tasteless.

Retired chemist Hans Feldmeier, 87, told AFP he had received the pig fat as a student in 1948 near the northern city of Rostock as part of the post-war U.S. aid program.

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/life/food/year+lard+found+Germany+still+edible/6084898/story.html

Even better story than that guy who had something like 50 year old Mountain House freeze-dried cans tucked away in the attic and found that they were still pretty tasty. I remember someone posted that story about Mountain House on here a while ago.

If benjammin were still around, he'd be nodding his head since he's such a big fan of pemmican. Dehydrated, ground lean meat mixed with a natural, saturated fat like lard (Actually, maybe it was another kind of fat, and not lard. I forget the recipe.) will keep for many years at room temperature without spoiling or going rancid.

I should get up the courage to try making homemade pemmican some time. I don't think there's a store bought pemmican that will keep that long. To save wear and tear on their machines with really tough jerky, I don't think any of the mass produced ones dehydrate their meat as thoroughly as it should be dried out before grinding and mixing with the fat. I think I read that somewhere on one brand's website.

I do most of my cooking with virgin coconut oil, another saturated fat. Stable when cooking at high heat, and won't go rancid for a very long time. I have yet to have a batch go rancid on me so it's my choice for long term storage. And has many purported health benefits. A good brand has a very mild, basically indistinguishable taste. I also spread it on toast like butter.

I suspect that too many of us unknowingly cook with partially rancid cooking oils, particularly any of the various types of partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, like corn, because they oxidize rather quickly. And rancid oil is very bad for the body. Actually, that's the primary reason to hydrogenate vegetables oils--to make them more shelf stable, like saturated fats. Such as lard. Ironic, no?

You first...


I am also a virgin coconut oil user for everything where butter or oil is used. Tasty stuff.

It is my fervent wish for me, my family, and all of you, that we never be so hungry as to have to consider slurping down 64 year old hog lard. Amen

Have you tried Tanka bars? I have been using them for about three years and I like them a lot. They are high in protein and are very tasty. They are eessentially a variety of pemmican - buffalo meat and cranberries.

Officially, they have a shelf life of one year, but I have consumed several that have gone well beyond their due date and they were fine. They are slightly moist, so I doubt they can last for a very long time.

They do have durable packaging which can survive for a long time in the bottom of your pack or BOB.

No affiliation, etc., but I am happy to support Native American enterprises.

I ate a bunch of those last summer. Moist, tasty, and best of all.....not salty!

I just went to Amazon to look up Tanka bars and had to laugh that they were being sold in "New" condition. Also, do we have lard "authorities" in the states?

Oh! I thought the thread was going to be about cannibalism.

I'll bet that Tanka bars sold in "slightly used" condition have to be marked down considerably....

That sort of misapplication of distinction never fails to amuse me. Try looking up some, urh, *ahem* intimate hygiene products, and see if you'd like to buy some "slightly used" merchandise. But I guess if a tub of lard is still edible after 64 years, anything goes.

I believe the fat is "seut", and is from around the kidneys.

Ah, yes, suet. Not a word you hear much in conversation. And good for seasoning cast iron cookware, too, IIRC.

Not being a baker, I had no idea that lard and tallow were different things. I always thought tallow was the raw, unprocessed fat straight from the animal. Apparently not.

Here's what Wikipedia has to say FWIW:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lard

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tallow

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suet

I'm not sure where "tactical bacon" (can't stop laughing!) fits on this scale. But I want a couple of cans as conversation pieces, or gifts, or perhaps Christmas tree ornaments.

Isn't tactical bacon the result of pork barrel spending on the part of DOD?

I wonder how long fruit cake will last.

Jeanette Isabelle

Apparently 64 years if you make it with lard