I ordered 3 of the 4-5lb tubs of lard, I use it personally and I have done this for many years, including with other mangalitsa farms, wagyu farms for tallow as well, and so on.
The lard had an off smell, it was overheated, now, it doesn't affect flavor and it's not necessarily the end of the world, but it may also affect shelf life which can be an issue, for me.
As noted I have used lard in my cooking for many many years, and I've had other 100% pure mangalitsa lards that were rendered properly with no odor, so I know it can be done.
It's too soon to know if shelf life will be affected.
I also got the breakfast sausages, turns out the sausage links were maple, that was not in the title but rather in small print in the description, I wish that would have been made more prominent as I don't care for maple flavored items. That said, not their problem, I needed to be more careful. And, the maple flavoring didn't smack a guy in the face, so they were certainly edible.
The breakfast patties were not just mild in level of heat, but in the sense that they weren't flavorful at all, they weren't bad, they just weren't anything special, not even a little.
For the price I would expect more there, everything was edible and fine enough, nothing blew me away, and it's a shame the lard seemed to be overheated in the rendering process.
But I'll live, delivery was fast and I wasn't robbed of my money, these days, that's a win. And whilst the lard wasn't perfect, I appreciate the company using it and not tossing it.
4 out of 5 stars is fair enough.
