Wisdom of my Friends List

[fiendish_cat]

Does anyone know how long lard lasts?

I just found a pot of dripping at the back of my fridge left over from a roast shoulder of lamb I did at Easter. It's essentially just lard, none of meaty jelly bits at the bottom because I used all of those for the gravy.

Will it still be OK to eat/use?

(I appear to have left it uncovered if that makes a

Comments

[alitheapipkin]

If it's just pure fat, I assume it would be fine as long as it doesn't smell rancid...

[cybik]

If it smells okay it should be fine.

[unblinkered]

Thirded....if it doesn't smell off, it probably isn't.

[unblinkered]

Or have stuff growing on it, obv.

[sollersuk]

Are you asking in terms of weeks, months or years? In any case, as long as it smells all right, it's all right; foods were covered with fat in order to preserve them.

I wouldn't use "lard" and "dripping" as interchangeable terms. Beef dripping is best but lamb dripping comes behind... totally wrong yearning now for toast and dripping!

[fiendish_cat]

I *think* that if you have a bowl of dripping that has the meaty jelly bit at the bottom and the fat on top, then the whole thing is dripping, but if you take just the fat at the top it's OK to call it lard. But I could be wrong. I've never thought much about lard before.

AndI have just been told by another friend that it's only lard if it comes from a pig.

(PS It was Easter this year - so a couple of months)

[alitheapipkin]

Yes, actually, lard is technically pig fat so it would be dripping. Either way, fine as long as it looks and smells fine.

[mimmimmim]

It should be fine, as long as it smells okay. I've kept goose fat for up to a year.