Fasly-Kam

Earlier posts: Swine and Mankind - The satiating power of dietary fat, mankind’s long history with swine, and the changes made to swine through genetic selection and some implications for humans fighting excess fat. Lard, Glorious Lard – The uses and benefits of lard. ********************************************************************* One definition of “try” is to melt or render. The Yankee innovation that permitted the formation of the Yankee whaling industry was figuring out how to move the “try works” from shore-based installations to shipboard ones. Here’s the process I use to render our lard and beef tallow: Pork fat from Afton Field Farm Shred the frozen pork fat in a food processor. (During my first attempt at rendering lard I just cut the fat into chunks, but shredding produces a better yield, in much less time, and the resulting lard is whiter.) Place the shredded fat in a heavy pan on medium heat. Our dogs gave us this enameled cast iron Dutch oven for Christmas '09....

Earlier post: Swine and Mankind - The satiating power of dietary fat, mankind’s long history with swine, and the changes made to swine through genetic selection and some implications for humans fighting excess fat. ***************************************************************** During this country’s pioneer days the hog was the principal source of fat for the diet and lard was widely used for other purposes in everyday life. Two industries are responsible for displacing lard - vegetable oil processing and petroleum. Industrial processes were developed in the first half of the 20th century to extract, purify, and solidify various vegetable oils (hydrogenation). This created the vegetable-shortening industry. These processes made available vast sources of cheap oils. These could be converted into a texture that made them acceptable as shortening materials. All that was needed was a public relations campaign to convince the American public that these new industrial products were good f...

Nancy and I have been enjoying some locally-produced, hazelnut-finished, red wattle pork. We purchased it from Heritage Farms Northwest . The oil in the hazelnuts results in a pork fat that’s significantly softer than other pork, indicating a lower saturated fat content. The red wattle is a relatively rare breed of hog, and definitely NOT a producer of “the other white meat.” Last Sunday we enjoyed a breakfast of scrambled eggs with some diced grilled pork chop (including the thick layer of fat, of course!) and caramelized onions. Very rich. This one meal carried us both until well past our usual dinner time. Each of us finally ate something later that evening, more because we felt it was time than feeling all that hungry. Fat satisfies. Fat “sticks to your ribs.” Carbohydrates do not satisfy. The sensation of hunger returns more quickly on carbohydrate-based diets than on fat-based ones. Swine have been the source of dietary fat and protein for some time. Archaeological evidence indic...

I’m reflecting on the passing year’s events and looking forward to the new year’s possibilities. Once again, I’m not all that unique! I’m grateful for the opportunities I’ve been given to speak about this topic I call “Grass Based Health,” and the chance to get reconnected with agriculture. This involved relearning information that I hadn’t utilized for more than fifteen years, and learning a great deal of new-to-me information. It also meant that I got to re-connect with a number of folks, while making many new acquaintances. I started this blog last spring, shortly before I travelled to Seattle to attend a joint meeting of the American Society of Bariatric Physicians and the Metabolism Society . Listening to presentations by Jacqueline Eberstein, Dr. Richard Feinman, Dr. Stephen Finney, Gary Taubes , Dr. Mary Vernon , Dr. Jay Wortman , and others was an amazing opportunity to learn from the experts in carbohydrate restriction. But speaking with several of the bariatric practitioners...