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Farming isn’t new for us. Andrew and I bought our first small farm twenty one years ago and we have farmed on and off since. For more information on that, read our farm story.
We raise or have raised cows, pigs, chickens, goats, and we even have a couple donkeys. It’s a real funny farm around here! Some of these animals we have processed for ourselves, others we sell in various ways in hopes to make a profit on our small farm.
Pigs are probably the one animal I would hate to live without. I love pork! We eat more pork than any other meat.
As you know, or maybe you don’t, on any animal there is meat and then there is fat. When animals are processed some fat is left on the meat for flavor but the majority is separated. Pig fat is lard and cow fat is tallow. Both are great to cook with as well as various other usages.
As you can imagine, pigs have a lot of lard. Usually the processing plant will ask if you want the lard. Even when I had no idea what I would do with so much lard, we would still take it.
It didn’t take long for me to realize I would need to learn how to render lard and then cook with it or do something with it.
Cooking with lard seemed pretty straightforward for me as I was already in the habit of saving back my bacon grease drippings and cooking a little with that.
In my searching and talking with others about all the uses for lard, I discovered creams and lotions. My hands are always so dry and cracked especially in the winter, and I am always looking for a good hand cream. I was very intrigued by the idea of using our lard to heal my cracked hands.
My main concern with using lard for homemade lotions and creams is how greasy it is. The pork smell was another concern.
I’ll cover both of those concerns as well as my honest opinion about homemade lard hand cream, so please read to the end.
Making hand cream with lard is pretty straightforward. Here’s what you’ll need:
1 cup of rendered lard.
2 tablespoons of castor oil.
1-2 tablespoons of corn starch.
20-40 drops of essential oil. I used lemon and eucalyptus.
Vitamin E would also be a great add it, I just didn’t have any.
Measuring cups, hand mixer, and two pots you can use as a double boiler.
First thing you’ll do is add the lard and castor oil to your double boiler. Let this slowly melt and stir together. Once it’s melted, remove the pan from the stove.
Allow to cool and harden back slightly. This process, for me, took almost two hours. After I realized it was not going to quickly harden on the counter, I put it into the refrigerator to speed up the process. You could also put it in the freezer as well.
Once it has cooled and solid you can add in your oils and cornstarch and pour into your jar or you can whip it.
I chose to whip the mixture to get a more fluffy texture. I think it worked, however, it would have worked better if I had let it harden more. I am just too impatient.
While you mix the cooled lard and castor oil, add in the corn starch. The corn starch makes the mixture less greasy and makes it smooth. I added 2 tablespoons of corn starch.
Next, add in your drops of essential oil.
Pour it into your jar with a lid and let it sit. It will harden some more slightly. It should not get solid as it is supposed to be creamy and easy to apply, like lotion.
Honest opinion and take away:
First of all, I am not the craftiest person. With that out of the way, I will say that I am impressed this actually turned out.
I created something useful for myself and my family. A non toxic option that everyone can love. Now, do I think my family will actually use this cream? No. And here’s why.
The cream was too greasy. I thought the cornstarch would help, and maybe it did, but not enough. Maybe I should use a little more next time. Adding less lard might have helped as well.
To me this hand cream feels almost exactly like Vaseline.
I personally like using this for my feet. My embarrassing secret is that my feet are always rough and cracked. Slathering this on my feet before bed and sleeping in socks really does help my feet and it feels so nice and relaxing.
The other issue I have with this particular batch of hand cream is I could not get the essential oil to over power the pork smell.
I am pretty sure the main reason for this is I used the batch of lard that I did not double render. The impurities cook out of the lard when it’s rendered, so it’s always a good idea to at least do a double render when you are rendering lard.
While this may not be the perfect lard recipe, but I am proud that I tried something new.