Rendering Lard - What about using wild hog fat?

[PunkinPeep]

In my neck of the woods, in which we are not raising pigs and don't know anyone who raises pigs, we "enjoy" a large population of wild hogs, which can be and are readily hunted.

I would like to shoot myself a hog and render the lard, but i haven't heard of anyone ever doing that.

I realize there would probably be a lot less fat than on a farm raised animal, but i would be willing to put for the effort for even a little.

Have anyone of you ever done it? Or heard of someone who did? Should i be concerned for health reasons?

Any advice is gratefully welcomed.

 

[Wifezilla]

I would try it. Worse case you have some tasty boar.

 

[freemotion]

Nutritionally, it should be phenomenal. Taste? No clue....do let us know!

 

[Wolf-Kim]

The reason you haven't heard of anyone doing it, is because wild hogs don't have any fat!

When hubby shot his 130# sow, she had no fat stores on her anywhere, nothing like farm raised hog. People who harvest wild hogs and make sausage, usually go to the grocery store or butchers and buy domestic pig fat to mix into wild hog meat. Seriously! When hubby and I made the hog into sausage we drove around and couldn't find a store that had any pig fat on hand, so we made sausage without it. You know how you use storebought sausage and the shrinks 2/3 it's size and leaves grease all in the pan? Wild hog sausage doesn't shrink, and cooks like ground beef. Makes EXCELLENT sausage WITHOUT the pig fat!

 

[keljonma]

The reason you haven't heard of anyone doing it, is because wild hogs don't have any fat!

When hubby shot his 130# sow, she had no fat stores on her anywhere, nothing like farm raised hog. People who harvest wild hogs and make sausage, usually go to the grocery store or butchers and buy domestic pig fat to mix into wild hog meat. Seriously! When hubby and I made the hog into sausage we drove around and couldn't find a store that had any pig fat on hand, so we made sausage without it. You know how you use storebought sausage and the shrinks 2/3 it's size and leaves grease all in the pan? Wild hog sausage doesn't shrink, and cooks like ground beef. Makes EXCELLENT sausage WITHOUT the pig fat!

WK, that was fascinating and makes a lot of sense, if you think about it.

But if you don't have grease from the sausage, do you use butter to make gravy for biscuits?

 

[Wolf-Kim]

The reason you haven't heard of anyone doing it, is because wild hogs don't have any fat!

When hubby shot his 130# sow, she had no fat stores on her anywhere, nothing like farm raised hog. People who harvest wild hogs and make sausage, usually go to the grocery store or butchers and buy domestic pig fat to mix into wild hog meat. Seriously! When hubby and I made the hog into sausage we drove around and couldn't find a store that had any pig fat on hand, so we made sausage without it. You know how you use storebought sausage and the shrinks 2/3 it's size and leaves grease all in the pan? Wild hog sausage doesn't shrink, and cooks like ground beef. Makes EXCELLENT sausage WITHOUT the pig fat!

WK, that was fascinating and makes a lot of sense, if you think about it.

But if you don't have grease from the sausage, do you use butter to make gravy for biscuits?

Oh didn't think about gravy, I guess there is a down side to feral sausage.

It really does make the best sausage! That 130# sow was the first time hubby and I EVER made sausage and we went through it in just a couple of weeks. Using it in spaghetti, breakfast, and anything else, I even think hubby ate some like a hamburger by patting it into a patty and grilling it.