Burton Guttman said to All on 01-31-96 18:45 about Suet/fat...

BG>The meat departments of grocery stores are happy to give away big chunk
BG>of fat, but in its natural state it doesn't work very well for feeding
BG>birds. They eat some when it's fresh, but it goes bad pretty quickly.
BG>Does anyone have a simple way to extract good suet from it, to be made
BG>into cakes for feeding? Yes, I know--it might not be worth the effort,
BG>but I'd like to see some of that fat going to a good purpose if possibl

- Run the suet thru a meat grinder (the grocery store might do this for
you for a small fee).

- Place the ground suet in a pan over moderate heat

- Once the suet has melted pour it thru a fine-mesh strainer or cheese
cloth

- Pour into "single serving" containers (containers that are the right
size for you to grab and put out in your suet feeder) with air-tight
lids

For variety I pour the suet over a 50/50 mixture of ground filberts and
peanuts or a 50/50 mixture of niger and sunflower seeds. I add the suet
till it "floats" over the nut mixture.

The filbert/peanut mixture is popular with flickers, hairys, downys, and of
course, starlings.

The niger/sunflower mixture is popular with chickadees and nuthatches.

Take care,
Bruce


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