Jim:
I just wanted to let you know of a web site where one can buy natural oils in bulk. It’s a company in Solon, Ohio, called “Oils By Nature“. They produce their own oils with the lowest amount of refining and don’t add things like detergents and anti-foaming agents, etc. Prices are based on seasonal availability. Their customer service is great!
For example, I bought a 55 lb. of unrefined Palm Kernel Oil for a very good price. This kind of fat is solid at room temperature and it’s molecular composition is very usable by the human body. It also keeps well in it’s steel container for years as long as it’s stored in a cool dry place where it won’t liquefy.
I have also purchased olive oil and peanut oil from them. Their peanut oil is the best I’ve ever tasted. Maranatha! – K.
Hi Jim,
I just read the letters and comments on fats and oils, and wanted to add a couple of things. First, it is possible to get enough cream off of goat milk to make butter. The milk needs to set for several days, up to a week or more, and you will end up with ‘ripened’ butter, which actually tastes pretty good. You need quite a bit of milk, at least a gallon, and preferably two or three if you can manage it. It helps the cream to rise if you can let the milk set out at room temperature for a while, but it will be easier to skim when it’s cold. Also, use a large jar (gallon if you have one) with a wide mouth. The soured milk left after skimming the cream can be used in baking, made into cheese, or fed to pigs, chickens, or dogs.
It also helps to have goats with high-fat milk — Jim mentioned Nubians, and it’s true that of the large dairy breeds they have the highest butterfat content. But Kinder goats, Nigerian Dwarfs, and the crosses of Nigerian with large breeds (for ‘mini’ goats) all have higher butterfat than any of the large breeds of goats, except possibly for Boers, which aren’t usually milked, but can be. A quart jar of Kinder goat milk will have an inch of cream on the top in just a couple of days, and a gallon jar may have two or three inches after a week. That’s about a quart, enough to make a good amount of butter.
Another way to get fat into your diet using dairy products is by making cheese using whole milk. The fat remains in the cheese, rather than draining off with the whey. Of course, the richer the butterfat content of the milk, the more fat you’ll obtain from the cheese. Or just drink the whole milk as a significant percentage of your diet.
The other solution to the fat problem that I didn’t see mentioned was geese. Geese were the traditional fat source for people who didn’t use pork, and also among some who would use pork if they could get it but found it easier to feed geese. Geese require much less grain than pigs do, and have much better-tasting fat than sheep or goats (the fat from sheep and goats has other uses, though, such as tallow for candles — because it’s a hard fat — or for soap making). They are also very hardy, able to survive down to 100 degrees below zero, according to an extension agent in Fairbanks who I once talked to. They are good watchdogs, too, though are a little too aggressive to have around small children. – Freeholder