What is Lard?
Lard is a common staple in culinary fields and applications specifically in baking and cooking. It is primarily fat which is derived from pig sources and has been historically a popular ingredient in the culinary and cooking field. Nevertheless, this item has earned a stigma especially in the 20th century specifically in the western part of the world. Most people perceive it as quite damaging to your health compared to vegetable shortening or more popular choices such as butter.

This ingredient is a staple in most grocery stores specifically in the Hispanic division of the store. If you are going to use this ingredient, one of the many things to learn is the varieties of usage for the word. Spanish people refer to lard as Manteca in their language. However, there are also those from Latin America which use the same term to refer to butter. Although you could basically buy this ingredient at grocery stores, there are homemade types which most consumers prefer for their freshness.

Lard is also varied in several rank or standard, the highest and finest quality of all known as leaf lard. This is the type which you could get from the kidney regions of the source. There are also other kinds such as the back lard, wet lard, and fresh lards. The wet type is basically created from the process which steams or boils the ingredient. Fat is an ingredient which is not very much soluble to liquid specifically water. Thus, when boiled or steamed, the item goes afloat and the cook may easily skim the fat off.

Fresh lard is set for storage but not necessarily requiring refrigeration. Commercialized types are also evened out through the use of the hydrogenation process. This process actually indicates that the commercialized kind is high in trans fat contents that harm the health.