Lard & Tallow

Lard and Tallow are animal fats and yes they make great Soaps.

Tallow is a rendered primarily form of beef or lamb fat, primarily made up of triglycerides.

In industry, tallow is not strictly defined as beef or lamb
fat. In this context, tallow is animal fat that conforms to certain
technical criteria, such as its melting point. Commercial tallow
commonly contains fat derived from other animals, such as pigs(Lard) or even from plant sources. So Lard in an industrial contexts it is considered Tallow. The main difference between Lard and Tallow is that Lard comes from pigs and is generally less cleansing but more conditioning when used in soaps than other forms of Tallow. Generally speaking Lard is much cheaper than Beef Tallow which will generally be anywhere from 2-3 times more expensive per pound.

In the soap industry and among soap-making hobbyist, the name Tallowate is used informally to refer to soaps made from tallow. Sodium Tallowate, for example, is obtained by reacting tallow with Sodium Hydroxide(Soda Ash), and Potassium Tallowate is when the tallow reacts with Potassium Hydroxide(Pot Ash). When you see Sodium Tallowate as an ingredient on a commercially bought bar of soap there is typically no specification as to which kind of animal the Saponified fat came from, remember in industry standards Tallow is not strictly red meat four legged animals such as beef, mutton or perhaps even bear. There may be lard or plant matter in the rendered fat used to make the Tallowate.

Lard is a tallow in one sense of the word and not in another. Some refer to Lard as pig tallow, or Manteca(Spanish for Lard). Lard and Tallow are animal fats so you’d think they are very high in saturated fats, and yes they do have a lot more that most plant oils but in lard specifically
has a very high Oleic Acid content which is a monounsaturated fatty acid. Lard and Tallow also have more Palmitic Acid then Stearic Acid though they tend to be more closely concentrated than Palm Oil which has significantly more Palmitic Acid than Stearic Acid. Generally Both produce a strong stable Lather but Stearic does it much better, thats why many shave soapes have a high Stearic Acid content.

How Lard and Tallow were used traditally in Soap

Ancient Mespotainans were the first recorded to make soaps by cooking fatty acids rendered from a slaughtered cows, sheep or goats – together with water and an alkaline lye like a caustic substance derived from wood ashes. The result was a greasy and smelly goop that lifted away dirt.

Lard and tallow being an animal fat that was more abundant in colder climates than fatty vegitables such as olives was the main fat used in the making of soap. The United States colonist used Lard soap mainly as for cleaning there clothes but over time soap became a staple for modern hygein.

How I use Lard in Soap

Ive found Lard and Tallow to produse a much more stable lather than Palm oil even though it is an animal fat it is high in both stearic and Palmitic Acid while Palm Oil has a lot of Palmitic Acid it dosent have very much stearic acid. Lard is also very inexpensive and is a good substitute for Palm oil if you dont mind adding animal fats to your soap. You can usually get a pound of lard for $2 or less. I typically use between 10% to 30% Lard in my soaps as I find any more makes the soap smelling a bit funky. Also Lard by itself dosent clean very well, It does clean alright but adding some Coconut Oil will definitly improve the bubbles and cleansing ability of the soap. Down Below I have the Typical ranges of Fatty Acids for Both Lard and Beef Tallow.