On Mon, 25 Oct 1999, Michael Audette wrote:

> In more southern latitudes, sun light is sufficient, banging the stuff with
> rocks helps break it down also. I think pre-chewing does something to break
> down and destroy bacteria. Rendering in a cast iron pot over a fire was a
> European method. Before then, there were other ways.

I took it from your previous message that you have tried these
methods.  But I am skeptical that you could render fat from suet
by leaving it out in the sun, and I am *extremely* skeptical that
you could do it by banging with a rock.  In suet the tallow is
perfused through the rind, which appears to me to be
cartilaginous.  I can't begin to imagine how you could *separate*
the fat from the rind by smashing it with a rock.

Pre-chewing is something that I hadn't thought of, but I confess
that I still don't see how chewing on suet would help to separate
the fat for making pemmican, although it might be possible to
get some to swallow.

> It never ceases to amaze me how people can't think natural.

And it never ceases to amaze me that while we are expected to
believe that paleolithic hunter-gatherers might have rendered fat
by leaving it in the sun, pounding it with rocks, or chewing it,
but we must not harbor the suspicion that they were capable of,
say, soaking lentils until they were edible.

Todd Moody
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