How to Make Bear Grease

The practice of making bear oil has diminished over the last century. Cheap, grain-based oils and our society’s rapid movement away from field-to-table eating has lessened the value of this wonderful, multipurpose fat. But I think it still can find a place in modern homes. Bear oil has many non-cooking functions like lubricating guns and knives, preserving leather, burning as fuel in oil lamps, and in some circles, forecasting the weather. Bear...

Video: How to Make Bear Grease

I’m really passionate about the correct way to render bear fat. In this video, I’ll show you how to do it. The story of bear oil (or bear grease, as I like to call it) is rich with folklore. Some say it can cure baldness and arthritis. Others say you can use it to forecast the weather. Still more people have more practical applications like using it for cooking, conditioning leather, and preserving metal. My favorite way to use bear grease is pan...

How to Predict Weather with Bear Grease

You can make bear grease by heating the lard off a bear until it liquifies into a usable oil. It’s highly valued because of its stable shelf life at room temperature and numerous applications. I’ve personally cooked, conditioned leather, lubricated metal, and made lye soap with it. Other folks use it as hair pomade, lamp fuel, and bug repellent. I gave a jar to a bowyer once for sealing bow wood. It was valued in frontier America because it didn...