Been making tallow, lard, and then tallow and lard candles and soap for about 8 years. Have to use wax too in the candles but mostly animal fats.

Sadly bacon candles don't smell like it. That was the original idea.

Never used it on my skin but admit to using it as chapstick a few times when I didn't have chapstick.

Most people throw it away. The stuff is gold!

Ok, this is firmly in my wheelhouse. Been rendering beef into tallow and piggies into lard for a while. I've picked up a few trial and error lessons learned time saving tips over the years.

First, try try try to source your fats locally. Find a neighborhood rancher or hit the farmer's market. I've used grocery store fat and found it to be of inferior quality.

Second, game animals (excluding bear but including wild piggies) typically do not have enough fat to make it worth the effort, so stick to locally sourced, ethically pastured beeves and sows.

Here follows a comparatively quick and easy recipe to render animal fats into lards or tallows, respectively:

Necessary tools: -A good sharp knife or two -Cutting board -Meat Grinder -Instapot -Pyrex Measuring cup (4 cup) -Fine mesh wire strainer -Wide mouth 1/2 pint ball jars

Procedure: -Take your slightly frozen fat and cut it into meat grinder serviceable sized chunks. Trim as much of the meat away as possible. *Note: Fat will quickly dull a blade, so have a couple on hand or sharpen frequently as you go. **Note note: fat makes everything it comes in contact with slippery. Exercise an overabundance of caution while cutting.

-Feed the Fat into the meat grinder -Put the ground fat into the Instapot (no lid) and use the saute setting, stirring occasionally to keep the fat from sticking to the bottom. -In manageable batches CAREFULLY strain the liquid fat through a wire mesh strainer into a 4 Cup Pyrex Measuring cup -Pour the liquid fat into Ball Jars, cover with a cloth to cool. -Once cooled, lid them and store them. - If you so desire, you can salt and continue to fry the remaining fat in a good cast iron skillet for some legit cracklins.

This meat grinder/instapot method slashes the rendering time and increases yield.

To truly up the ante, get a hold of leaf fat (internal fat surrounding the cows kidneys). I combine this liquid gold with coconut oil and essential oils to make a body butter that has the ladies in my life lined up and asking for more.

My wife uses our pastured piggie lard for her soaps.

Tallow and lard posses different benefits, but both are ancestral and will help keep you optimally oiled, inside and out.

Results: !

You'll be a boiled up cabbage head.

Made me chuckle!