Which is better lard or butter

But until recently, it's been generally looked down upon, and without a truly good reason. The smear campaign is similar to the recent battle between corporate sugar and fat proponents.

In the early s, vegetable shortening came onto the scene and the big brands tried to oust lard from its throne with aggressive marketing campaigns. Now, much like tie-dye and fanny packs, lard is making a comeback. While it isn't vegetarian or vegan, lard is dairy free , something that butter can't say for itself looking at you, paleo -followers. And compared to other fats especially butter , lard is considered one of the healthier options of the group.

It's a single unprocessed ingredient which is as natural as it gets, and it contains zero trans fats. Although it has received the green light by the doctors, some people are better off keeping fats whether animal or vegetable in origin at a minimum level, consumed only under the orientation of specialists. These are especially people who suffer from dyslipidemias an excess of fat in the blood and heart diseases. Fat is an extremely caloric nutrient, according to nutritional doctor Marcella Duarte, capable of increasing that cholesterol considered to be harmful to the organism.

In each gram of fat, there is an average of nine calories, regardless of whether they are animal or vegetable in origin. Compared to other foods, it is the macronutrient with the biggest caloric load per gram — proteins have four calories per gram, and alcohol has seven calories per gram.

Prepare one dish with vegetable oil, and another with animal fat. But lard, in its pure form, is hard to get. Since the trend toward plant-based oils began more than two decades ago, lard has been vilified and all but vanished from supermarket shelves. If it is available now, commercial lard, which comes packaged as a solid substance, is often treated with chemicals and hydrogenated fats, which are associated with heart disease, says registered dietitian Shauna Lindzon.

Rendering lard, boiling it to a liquid from a hunk of pink fat supplied by the butcher, takes time and effort. For everyone else, choose liquid oil high in monounsaturated fats, such as olive oil or organic, non-GMO canola oil, which are trendy now and healthy, says Lindzon, even for baking your next birthday cake.

Copyright owned or licensed by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. One tablespoon of butter contains 7. One tablespoon of lard, on the other hand, contains five grams of saturated fat, 5. Saturated fat, however, is much less useful to us and is potentially harmful in the long-term, he adds. Lard still contains over double the saturated fat found in one tablespoon of olive oil — which has two grams — and just under half the amount of monounsaturated fat — olive oil has 10 grams.

If you compare lard to other plant-sourced oils, including avocado oil, macadamia oil and canola oil, you will find the exact same results. The same can be said for plant-based oils, De Santis adds, which are much healthier but still high in calories. I say this because unlike other plant-based oils, coconut oil is solid at room temperature because it happens to have a high saturated fat content. However, the saturated fats in coconut oil are different and arguably healthier than those in lard, adds.