Lard

Description

The purified fat from hogs (Sus scrofa). Lard is soft, white material with a characteristic odor that is primarily composed of stearin, palmitin, and olein. The oil expressed from lard, called lard oil, contains the fatty acids of these lipids with the following composition (average %): Oleic acid (47.5), Palmitic acid (28.30), Stearic acid (11.9), Linoleic acid (6.0) and myristic acid (1.3) (CRC Handbook 1980). Purified lard, also called adeps, is used for food products and cooking grease. Lard is also used for ointments, lubricants, soaps, candles, and leather dressing. Lard was once used as a substitute for butter in cooking and frying due to its which melting point.

Synonyms and Related Terms

reuzel (Ned.); ister (Sven.); manteca (Esp.); lardo (It); adeps; lard oil; animal fat

Risks

• Combustible.

Physical and Chemical Properties

Soluble in benzene, chloroform, ether, carbon disulfide, ligroin. Slightly soluble in ethanol. Insoluble in water.

For lard oil: iodine value = 58.6 and saponification value =194.6

Melting Point	36-42 C
Density	0.917 g/ml
Refractive Index	1.4615 (lard oil)

Resources and Citations

• G.S.Brady, Materials Handbook, McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1971 Comment: p. 437

• Richard S. Lewis, Hawley's Condensed Chemical Dictionary, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 10th ed., 1993

• The Merck Index, Martha Windholz (ed.), Merck Research Labs, Rahway NJ, 10th edition, 1983 Comment: entry 5380

• Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lard (Accessed Jan. 6, 2006)

• CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, Robert Weast (ed.), CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, v. 61, 1980