So, I am finally getting around to going after a fall berry bear.....

I want to do it mainly to render the fat, and use it for baking.

I could use all the help, experience and knowledge as to what to do with the fat after i get it home..

Slice it off the rear quarters and fry it in a cast iron frying pan. Pour off the oil into jar or can and if it is good berry fat it will cool and harden into white Crisco like lard. If it don't harden, I'd chuck it. Long term storage; I'd keep it cool. If you are brave or YukonJeff, eat the cracklings.

I've probably made 500 pounds of bear fat renderings over the years. Only thing to be concerned about is scorching the fat when rendering. Cook it SLOW, preferably in cast iron, as per Dirt. One tiny bit of scorching, and throw out the entire batch. Too, I always stored my rendered fat in the freezer in old coffee cans. Would keep for years that way. All of the external fat is renderable, as well as the internal fat around the kidneys and omentum. Take care to keep the lymph nodes out of the fat. Absolutely best "Alaskan Crisco" for pie crusts and other pastries. Even good for agoutuk. I never really liked grizzly fat for rendering, but have never had any off-taste from any black bears.

Jack

I second Jack's advice. Particularly trying not to scorch it while rendering.

Also, I've had terrific luck with black bear fat and little luck with grizzly fat. I did get good lard from a small but terribly fat early September grizzly from WAY up in the mountains who probably could even spell F-I-S-H!

Pete

Freeze the fat first and the run it through a grinder before rendering.

A lot quicker to cook down when it is all in the same size smaller chunks.

Not sure if it would process the same but we render all of our hog fat down in a crockpot. Fill it until the lid barely fits on and set on medium. Ladle liquid off 6-8 hours later into jars and freeze. After it starts to melt crack the lid so moisture can escape.

Fat berry eating black bear acquired yesterday. The fat was 2” thick.

For storage, would a hot water canning or pressure cooker Work? Or, is it unnecessary.

I have zero freezer space after fishing.

Congrats on the bear! Pressure cooking/ pressure canning the meat is definitely a solution to long term storage and you will not be disappointed with the end product, even if it does look like dogfood in jars on your shelf. Regarding storage of lard/ rendered fat- I have never heard of pressure cooking or canning it. I have found rendering in a crock pot the most efficient way! As others have mentioned scorch it and the batch is trash. The crockpot may limit the amount you can render at once but it will also limit the amount of time and attention required through the process. I would imagine in days past rendered fat would be stored in glass in a cool dark place- and likely would keep until spring. I have stored rendered bear fat and also pork fat in jars in the fridge for 6 months+/-. I have recently been making biscuits with pork fat almost twice a week in a quest for the perfect biscuit. You still drinking kombucha? I am happy to help with your fish problem- I'd be willing to trade up the heirloom pork I just finished on fruit!

I wanted to follow up on this project and thank those who shared their experience.

What i did was clean the fat first (which didnt take much other than picking a hair or two off, wiping away any blood)..
I then trimmed off any "meat" and then sliced the fat as uniform as I could.

I got the cast iron pan out, on a medium heat and just started rendering away...
I would flip the pieces of fat when they seemed to need it, and took them out well before they scorched.
after the "cracklings" were removed, I would pour the fat through a straining cloth i have from a jam / jelly kit, and into mason jars.

The oil was as clear as store bought vegetable oil, and a little lighter golden color. I believe i had around 20lbs of fat, and ended with a gallon of oil.

it did not turn into a white 'crisco" on the counter, but as soon as I put it into the refrigerator it did, and that is where i am keeping it.

I have shared it with several folks who have used it to make pie crusts with, I even used it to make cookies.

and my favorite use so far was for a crust for blacktail meat pies that a friends wife made. she has since told her husband that she no longer desires to cook with other forms of "oil", and that he must go get a black bear each fall.

it was an interesting experiment to do, and i will probably do it again, if i happen upon a berry bear that is alot easier to get than this one was. "sheep hunting" a black bear is just dumb, and i wont do that again.

Yes, but the berry-munching high country fall "sheep" bears are EXACTLY the ones that result in the finest lard! Thanks for the rest of the story....

Pete

Pete, a good friend of mine who is a trapper / bush pilot up here in Yukon is wintering just across the state line from you and he says there are some big fat black bears in that neck of the woods. Might want to get one, bet they dont see many fish there!

Pete,
I left out the part of the hunt where I forgot my mountaineering boots and ended up wearing my knee high Burly’s. Which, sidehilling and climbing around above treeline isn’t what they were made for. I had blisters bigger than those mason jar lids.

Here’s the bear my buddy shot.

Hup,

You are preaching to the already converted. I've stalked sheep "of opportunity" in X-tra Tuffs and in hip-boots! ONCE each....!

Pete

One thing to add to the conversation is to second Mike Kelly on running the cut up fat through a meat grinder first before rendering in a 5 gallon pot. Had an old snogo motor hooked to my grinder so it was easy to do. It saves so much time rendering and reduces the chance of burning and always figured the less heat the better for a healthy end product. I never did black bear just grizzlies as I lived on a salmon spawning creek and sometimes got so many grizzlies I would not even have to shoot a moose. Would get them around October 1st on before they left the river for the mountains. Made lots of bacon and hams from them also. The fat was used to pour over ground dry moose meat to make pemmican in a pan then cooled and then cut into cubes for the trail. - As well as general cooking for everything. .

Stan your the first guy I ever heard of that ate grizzly more than once . Not making fun here , just had always read that it wasn’t good to eat. Had even read where the black bears were bad if they had been in the fish. Please enlighten me , us !

When I first came to Alaska I lived for 11 years 60 miles up a salmon spawning creek north of the village of Tanana. There were a few black bears in spring but once the salmon came any black bear would quickly be run off by the grizzlies. Saw it many times. Grizzlies all over but they left us alone mostly. So if I didn't get a moose in Sept. it meant getting a bears/s before they left the river for the hills. They were probably as fishy as they can get but I never noticed and thought they just had more flavor which I liked. I like merganser ducks over a goose also for same reason. After feeding a friend some of my grizzly bacon one time and talking to him weeks later he said the bacon was okay but the fish burps for days later was a killer. That made me realize that maybe being raised on the east coast and eating fish lots and getting a tablespoon of cod liver oil jammed down my throat daily may have done something to me. I really do prefer grizzly over black and feel taste aside it is quality meat. My ex wife (from east coast also) liked it also.

You ATE MERGANSER!!!???? My word, that takes the cake! My stomach churns at the very thought.

When I first came to Alaska in 1973 I didn't know one duck from another and would just eat them all. There were some that would flavor my rice/duck dinners more than others and I liked that more. Years later friends said those were Mergansers and they reacted just like you and said no one eats them. Maybe I wouldn't like them if I was told that first.

Very cool Hoop! That is one heck of a beautiful bear!

Lots of uses for the lard- your diet probably doesn't allow it- but fried potatoes in bear lard are quite a thing to be had!

Did you can any of the meat?

hey Stan Just wanted to say I read your book and it is amazing. Makes my wife and I jealous that I missed those times. What is your recipe for bear bacon if you dont mind sharing?