What’s the correct way to store fats

fatsstorage-method

What are the decision parameters, when you have rendered fat to store? Glass or plastic? Refrigerated or not? I'm not looking for long-term storage; just what's the best-practice way to store it for use over a month or two?

Best Answer

To store fats, you should always use glass as plastics react to fats by absorbing some and perhaps discoloring or transferring flavors to your fat. Depending on use, I prefer to work with cold fat at the start as it has a much broader possible use and I don't like to wait when I make biscuits, so I keep mine in the fridge. However, you gain very little extra life out of keeping it in the fridge and if you don't keep it in a sealed container you run a very real risk of flavor transference there to. If you don't make pastry dough or other such, your counter top is a perfectly acceptable place to store, as long as you use it up before it goes rancid. One thing to keep in mind is that fats can sometimes have very different shelf lives, so make sure you taste or smell before use, regardless of storage method.