Bird Suet Recipe without Lard
Birds come in different sizes and breeds, and many of them enjoy eating food with fats. Suet is a great food option for birds as it allows them to maintain their body energy and keep warm. It helps birds a great deal during the winter months when they need to consume more calories.
Suet is typically made with lard, a semi-solid white fat obtained from pigs. But you can make it without using this ingredient. This article will discuss how to make the bird suet without lard. So, let’s get started!
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Beef/mutton fat or vegetable shortening – 2 cups
- Chunky peanut butter – 2 cups
- Powdered sugar – ½ cup
- Wild bird seeds of your choice – ½ cup
- A mixture of oatmeal, bread, and cake crumbs – 2 cups
- Raisins or dried cranberries – ½ cup
- Beef Broth – 2 cups
- Grated cheese – ½ cup
Equipment You’ll Need
- A large bowl or pot
- Yogurt pots
- Pieces of string
Bird Suet Recipe without Lard
- Add the peanut butter and beef/mutton fat or vegetable shortening to the pot and place the mixture on a stove.
- Heat the mixture at low-medium temperature to melt the mixture. Make sure not to overheat the fat.
- Remove the pot from the stove once the mixture has become soupy to start adding the rest of the ingredients.
- Keep stirring the mixture while you add other ingredients one by one. You can also use leftover cake crumbs, bread, and oats.
- Make small holes in the bottom of your yogurt containers.
- Pass strings to each yogurt container and tie two or three knots so that it stays in place.
- Fill the pots with the bird suet mixture you made and place them in the freezer.
- Let the suet freeze in pots for a couple of hours.
- Remove the pots and wait for 2 to 3 minutes so that the mixture turns slightly soft.
- Squeeze out suet from all the pots along with strings.
- Add the suet to the bird feeders or hang it on tree branches as desired.
Tips
- Use a large container in the first place for easier clean-up. This way, you won’t need to transfer the peanut butter mixture and vegetable shortening to another bowl.
- The process of mixing all the ingredients is very easy, and you can involve your children.
- Make sure that you use the right amount of vegetable fat and peanut butter. It’s recommended to use 1 part peanut butter and vegetable fat with 2 parts of the rest of the ingredients. Using more vegetable fat and peanut butter than that will make the suet softer and it’ll go rancid quickly.
- Keep in mind that the most important ingredient of the bird suet is fat, and you’ll first need to heat it to mix other ingredients. On sunny and hot days, the fat will melt, which means that this recipe isn’t suitable for summer. Therefore, it’s advisable to use this script during the winter season.
Your feathered visitors will surely look forward for another treat in your backyard. If you’re wondering what to give them next time, here are some must knows about bird seed, suet, and peanuts.