SEPARATING WATER FROM LARD.
Query.—C. W. writes: “I have my lard in such a shape that I don’t know what to do with it. It seems that the water will not separate from the lard and the mixture stays about the thickness of cream and about as white. Can you give me any instructions or advice?”
Ans.—To overcome your difficulty, we would advise you to remelt the lard and heat it quite hot, even up to 190 to 200 degrees, but do not let it come to a boil. Then let the lard settle. The water and impurities will settle to the bottom. The lard will rise to the top. If you heat the lard to the boiling point of water, that is, 212 degrees, it would do no harm except that the lard will then foam and you will have to be careful so that it does not foam over the top of the kettle. When it foams, it will bring the impurities to the surface, besides much of the moisture will evaporate. Either of these methods will remove your difficulty. You can dry the lard by heating it sufficiently or you can melt the lard and have it hot enough so that the water will settle to the bottom. After the lard is melted, dip it from the kettle, or if you have a lard cooler, run it into the lard cooler; be careful, though, that all water which may be at the bottom of the kettle is drawn off first if your intend to run the lard into a lard cooler. You will have to get rid of the water that is in the lard, so do not stir the lard while the water is still in the kettle. If you dip the lard out of the top of the kettle and place it in a lard tierce, when the lard begins to cool, you can stir it and keep on stirring it until it is thick like cream; it should then be run into buckets. You can readily understand that if there is a large per cent of water in the lard, it will keep the lard soft, which is the trouble you are now having.