For the Love of Lard

There may not be a long list of ingredients in the tortillas from Tortillas del Chico Blanco, but the simplicity is part of the magic. Let's take a peek at one of those ingredients... For the Love of Lard.

The European pig arrived in North America when Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto brought three hundred pigs with him to, what is now, Bradenton, FL in 1539. These four-legged meat and fat factories traveled west with European immigrants. Lard was typically rendered during the fall butchering season and placed in crocks that were stored in the aptly named "larders" of the homesteads. Most of the fat used to render lard comes from the back fat, but the best is "leaf lard" that surrounds the kidneys. High quality lard is odorless, tasteless, and snowy white.

Lard was the primary fat or shortening that was used in North America until the advent of hydrogenating vegetable oil in the early 1900's. Crisco arrived on scene in 1911, but the 1950's really began the shift from lard to vegetable shortenings. Oils are fats that are liquid at room temperature and by bombarding it with hydrogen, it makes it solid and more shelf stable. Through the nefarious business of marketing, Americans became convinced that vegetable shortening was healthier, more digestible and "cleaner" than lard. None of this was true, especially in the early days when vegetable shortening came from the discarded cotton seeds of the southern cotton mills.

Come to find out, Lard is lower in saturated fat than butter and coconut oil. In fact, saturated fat makes up only 40% of a serving of Lard and it isn't actually as bad for your health as doctors once thought. Lard is 60% monounsaturated fat (butter is 45%) and most of that is oleic acid which is the essential fatty acid found in olive oil that decreases the LDL (bad) cholesterol. Lard is also rich in Vitamin D, something no vegetable oil can boast. In one tablespoon of lard, there is up to 1000 IU's of vitamin D. In butter there are 9 IU's and 0 IU's in olive oil. Pure lard also contains no trans fat and only about 3.8mg of cholesterol per tortilla (about 1% of your daily limit).

And what does lard do in a tortilla? Well, it's a shortening and the "shortener" refers to the fact that the fat surrounds the flour particles and inhibits the formation of long gluten strands. It literally makes the dough strands shorter. This enhances flakiness, and tenderness (which is really retained moisture).