Deer Fat Candles

Post Update: This was a blog article I did in 2014 that I get a lot of questions about. Some people even want to argue about it, which I find curious, so I’m adding some clarification. Some years we have deer with lots of fat (relatively speaking) and some years they are very lean. Generally, no matter the year, I trim whatever fat there is and put it in the freezer until I collect enough to render. Sometimes it’s barely a cup, sometimes it’s three cups. It depends on the animal, and the year and it doesn’t hurt the fat to sit frozen from year to year if that’s what it takes to collect it. We use everything off the deer. Also, contrary to many claims, there is no smell if you render JUST fat. My Granny was the one who taught me how to render fat and she was meticulous that there be no meat in what you put in the rendering pot. She said meat cooking in the render pot would make the fat smell. I never questioned this, or let any meat slip in, but do now see people are rendering fat with meat in it and even trying to “render” bacon drippings. Friends will send me Instagram links about it. I can’t open them, and Granny is not here for me to ask, but I would love to hear her thoughts on it. In my head, I think I can imagine it, and the mischievous side-eye she would give me while deciding her response, lol. In her description, meat was a no-no in rendered fat, cracklins were the meatless treat that came out of the render pot, and to us, bacon grease was not something to purify as it was equivalent to gold and had a number of assigned uses all its own. I just can’t bring myself to ruin a good can of bacon grease by trying it. Maybe there are different kinds of rendered fat and we just never knew it or never considered anything different. I’m guessing that when Granny grew up, and even into when she was raising her own family, meat was too valuable to just get tossed into the rendering pot. So many things I would like to be able to ask… well anyway, without much instruction needed, and back to the original post content, here is how to make a jar candle from rendered deer fat:

Step 1:

You will need the following supplies:

Glass jar – shorter and wider is better than tall and slim. The more air that can get to the burning wick, the better. In this example I have used a baby food jar, because, of course, I saved all 893 of them… (???) Lol
Candle wick – this can be a true store bought candle wick or just a length of household twine, as is used here.
Stick to hold the wick in place.
Melted deer fat.

Step 2:

Tie your string on the stick at a length that just barely allows it to dangle at the bottom of the jar. An easy way to do this is to tie the string to the stick and then trim the bottom until you have it where you want it. Make sure you have it centered because where it is will be where it stays.

Step 3:

Very slowly, pour in your melted deer fat. It isn’t necessary to get the fat very hot, just enough to melt and pour it. Make sure you leave enough room at the top of the jar to have about a half inch of wick showing. Also when you’re pouring, make an effort to coat the string with the melted fat. A coated string lights and burns better once you’ve cut it to length in step 4.

Step 4:

Once your candle is completely cool, cut the wick to a length of 1/4″. It’s now ready to light! **Like other candles, keep the wick trimmed to 1/4″to keep it burning efficiently.