Hi!
Quick one from me tonight.
Getting super old fashioned!!
We got a side of beef from cousins – last one (sob) as they’ve retired off the farm so we feel very grateful to fill the freezer one last time!
Gosh its a lot of work – those of you who have done this know! I’ve filled and emptied the freezer three times since getting the meat – memories of having to hammer and chisel the steaks off the bottom live with a person and you don’t make the same mistake twice!!
I asked for not only the bones (for friends dogs) but also the fat too.
I decided I wanted to try my hand at rendering it to get tallow… and make soap of course!!
Super labour intensive… I will do smaller batches going forth. But it did work ok! I did it in the oven as my stove top has two settings. (Nuclear and Off)(None of this woossy simmering for me)
It was messy… straining and squeezing it through the cloth!
But it looked really good.
The leftover fat is in a bucket and the chooks have had a lovely time… as have the magpies and I have no idea how our local crows can still get airborne!! (Our crows are like the CIA… they do not miss a trick on this property! We are watched all the time!)
I decided to do a pure tallow soap. No other oils, no colours or fragrances either. I just wanted to see how it behaved.
Gosh!! Note to self. I need my speedy pants on! The first bars poured out ok then it just thickened in a heartbeat!! Above you can see the last bars ‘poured’ (Scraped out) looking like mashed potato!! Crazy!
They are a beautiful white bar. Apparently the tallow is really good for the skin. I’d like to make another batch and add coconut oil as that will increase the lather component. Then in a month I can compare the two.
While rendering the fat is a bit of a long process… it makes the bulk of the soap ingredients free as the fat would have been discarded. (Has anyone noticed the price of olive oil? Heart stopping!!)
I am really looking forward to trying out the bars once cured. As always… its a waiting game!
Hope your weekend was wonderful
xx
Lisa, garden is looking great.
Tallow is such a lot of work. Seems like it will work for you…good luck! I had to buy olive oil a couple of weeks ago. I actually went to a couple of stores as I thought it was priced incorrectly..shocking.
Thanks Judy!!
Oh yes, within the last 12 months, the olive oil price has doubled!! I have little heart attacks every time I go in to buy it and its been hiked up another few dollars.
We buy from a couple at the farmer’s market who sell goat cheese and the wife makes goat tallow soap and sells it. She has lovely skin, so maybe that’s the reason.
You made me laugh about your crows. My husband hears the crows and tells me “Your friends are calling you!” 🤣 I don’t know if you have access to a tv series called “Schitt’s Creek,” but it’s hilarious and in the later seasons there is a wonderful couple of crow episodes that had us in stitches laughing.
Have you tried the tallow soap yourself?? I am looking forward to it!
Oh yes! Schitts Creek!! We really enjoyed it… i’d forgotten about the crow episodes!! We started to rewatch it then got sidetracked. Actually… fun fact… a cousin of Jeffs is one of the writers!! We got such a laugh out of the series.
Go Jeff… one degree of separation from comic genius! 🤣 In my household, this would license my hubby to make corny jokes forever! We loved that show and thought the acting was quite good as well as the writing.
I haven’t tried the goat tallow soap.
haha… yes – Its a hugely fun series.
So just curious if the tallow has a smell to it? Does it feel greasy? and regarding your stove: ‘nuclear’ HAHAHAHA.
lol… When there is $$ spare a new stove is needed… however, probably not for a while!
Re tallow. It does smell in its raw form but not pungent or anything. The soap, now a few days into curing really has nothing but a faint ‘soap’ smell. Not beef or fat smell. When I pick it up, it doesn’t leave my hands greasy – anymore than picking up the usual soaps so far.
I’m really looking forward to properly testing when cured
Planning to make a batch today with the coconut oil so I can compare both in 4 weeks!
very interesting post! That soap looks amazing! I would buy it for sure.
Thanks Laura! I am really looking forward to testing the tallow soap. I also found what looks to be a good shampoo bar using the tallow. I have a long to do list today but optimistically adding soaping to it!! 🙂