FRC Forums highlighted post

Here are two posts supplied by 230gr for this week

How much salt would be appropriate
1. For strictly table and food use, a minimum of 5 lb per person per year is recommended.
2. For preserving meat, maybe, 20 lb per person (with a safety factor). For each100 pounds of meat, dry curing uses 6 pounds salt with more for brining small game and odd pieces. A minimum of 75 lb of meats per person per year is recommended but Americans, currently, consume between 177 to 193 lb of total meats annually.
3. 45 lb weight of green hide requires 15 lb of salt for curing.
4. Animals need salt too, from what I can find a dry cow needs 0.3 lb per day, lactating requires 1.2 lb per day and lactating, under heat stress, 1.5 lb.
5. Salt has a 100 uses, from tooth powder to furnace cement and setting dyes.
6. It is a traditional barter item and cheap (now). Since I live in the Great Lakes Region, a prominent goiter area, I will store iodized salt for table use. It containing 0.01 % of sodium iodide or potassium iodide. Unrefined sea salt contain 98.0 % NaCl (sodium-chloride) and up to 2.0% other minerals salts: Magnesium salts, Calcium salts, Potassium salts, Manganese salts, Phosphorus salts, Iodine salts, all together over 100 minerals. Unfortunately, Sea Salt has usually a very low level of iodine rarely even as high as 0.0071 %, as the processing generally destroys the iodine content.
Table SALT: This comes in two varieties; iodized and non-iodized and there is an ingredient added to it to adsorb moisture so it will stay free flowing in damp weather. This non-caking agent does not dissolve in water and can cause cloudiness in solutions if sufficiently large quantities are used. In canning it won't cause a problem since there is very little per jar. For pickling, though, it would be noticeable. If you are storing salt for this purpose, you should be sure to choose plain pickling salt, or other food grade pure salt such as kosher salt. In the iodized varieties, the iodine can cause discoloration or darkening of pickled foods so be certain not to use it for that purpose. For folks who come from areas that are historically iodine deficient a store of iodized salt for table consumption is of real importance.
CANNING SALT: This is pure salt and nothing but salt. It can usually be found in the canning supplies section of most stores. This is the preferred salt for most food preservation or storage uses. It is generally about the same grain size as table salt.
KOSHER SALT: evaporated from a brine, usually under specific conditions approved by the Orthodox Jewish faith. It contains no additives or added iodine This salt is used in "kashering" meat to make the flesh kosher for eating. This involves first soaking the meat then rubbing it with the salt to draw out the blood which is not-kosher and is subsequently washed off along with the salt. The cleansed meat is then kosher. What makes it of interest for food storage and preservation is that it is generally pure salt suitable for canning, pickling and meat curing. It is of a larger grain size than table or canning salt, and usually rolled to make the grains flaked for easier dissolving. Frequently it is slightly cheaper than canning salt and usually easier to find in urban/suburban
SEA SALT: a broad term that generally refers to unrefined salt derived directly from a living ocean or sea. This type of salt comes in about as many different varieties and from many different places around the world. It is harvested through channeling ocean water into large clay trays and allowing the sun and wind to evaporate it naturally. Manufacturers of sea salt typically do not refine sea salt as much as other kinds of salt, so it still contains traces of other minerals, including iron, magnesium, calcium, potassium, manganese, zinc and iodine. It's not suitable for food preservation, though, because the mineral content it contains (other than the sodium chloride) may cause discoloration of the food.
SOLAR SALT: This is also sometimes confusingly called "sea salt". It is not, however, the same thing as the sea salt found in food stores. Most importantly, it is not food grade. It's main purpose is for use in water softeners. The reason it is called "solar" and sometimes "sea salt" is that it is produced by evaporation of sea water in large ponds in various arid areas of the world. This salt type is not purified and still contains the desiccated remains of whatever aquatic life might have been trapped in it. Those organic remains might react with the proteins in the foods you are attempting to preserve and cause it to spoil.
ROCK SALT: This type of salt comes in large chunky crystals and is intended primarily for use in home ice cream churns to lower the temperature of the ice filled water in which the churn sits. It's also sometimes used in icing down beer kegs or watermelons. It is used in food preservation by some, but none of the brands I have been able to find label it as food grade nor do they specifically mention its use in foods so I would not use it for this purpose.
HALITE: This is the mineral salt that is used on roads to melt snow and ice. It is mined and is not food grade and should not be used in food preservation. This form of salt is also frequently called rock salt, like the rock salt above, but neither are suitable for food use.

Supplying Fats and Oils after EOTWAWKI
An adult should have 2 to 3 ounces of fat in their diet per day to stay healthy. Not a problem in our day of French fries and big backs, but that will not be true in post EOTWAWKI times. Storing It Even the most complete long storage food plans skip over the problematic but essential fats and oils. Not long ago, shortening and some vegetable oils where sold in metal cans and had a shelf life of up to ten years. They are no longer commonly sold in this country. Now they come in tin and card board or plastic and have a much shorter shelf life. In airtight metal or glass container, stored in a cool, dark environment can extend the useable shelf life of these products from 6 months to1 year to perhaps more than 2 or 3 years. It is still problematic. A case of canned butter with a shelf life of 3 years (but said to last 15 to 25 years) will supply the minimum daily fat requirement for an adult for 72 to 110 days. Crisco-type shortening or lard can have its shelf life extended by re-packing it in Mason-type canning jars. Some brands of lard are still packed in all-metal cans, which provides a longer shelf life too. Producing your own Wild Game Hunting is unlikely to supply you with little more than an occasional supplement of protein and even less fat. Most wild game simply lacks sufficient fat. Venison is quite low in fat. Rabbit meat is particularly low in fat. Bear, beaver, and wild pig are much richer. What ever you game you take, harvest what ever fat that there is. Utilize the fat rich organs like the brain, spine, bone marrow, also, internal organs like the kidneys, hearts, livers and intestines are often couched in fat. Even the skins and heads of birds, fish and crayfish can be boiled and the fats and oils consumed. Nuts and Acorns The meats of acorns and, especially, nuts is very high in high quality oils. Those that are too difficult to crack and extract the meat may be smashed and the meat/shell mixture boiled in water. The oils will rise to the top and can be skimmed off. These oils are very susceptible to rancidity and should be used as soon as possible. Dairy If you have the resources in pasture, hay, grain and the room to keep one or more cow, you will have a huge source of butterfat. In Wisconsin that means 2.74 acres of forage (hay) per cow with 2.3 acres of pasture and 1.5 acre minimum of corn. Cows grazing on pasture only were able to produce only 65 percent of expected milk yield, just over 33 pounds of milk per day. Under survival conditions, expect 30 to 40 pounds of milk per day. If you got 40 lb of milk, your one average dairy cow’s daily production represents: 1. 40lb milk per day or 2. 4.1 lbs. of cheese or 3. 1.7 lbs of butter* or 4. 1.3 lb of ghee* or clarified butter, smoke point of 400 °F, is excellent frying oil. *Note: enough to meet the minimum daily fat requirement of 7 adults for one day. Raise dairy goats maybe an option, although a challenge to fence, they do a great job of clearing brush. Goat milk must be run through a separator before you can make butter and they only produce ½ to 1 gallon of milk per day. 1. 8 lb milk per day or 2. 0.8 lbs. of cheese or 3. 0.34 lbs of butter* or 4. 0.26 lb of ghee* *Note: enough to meet the minimum daily fat requirement of 1 or 2 adults for one day Chickens Chickens are a source of fat too, not so much in their carcass, although their fat is flavorful and of good quality but in their eggs. Egg yolks are another source of fat that is rich in all of the fat soluble vitamins, (A, D, E and K) and one of the few foods naturally containing vitamin D. The yolk makes up about 33% of the liquid weight of the egg and a single yolk contains approximately 5 grams of fat. It would take12 eggs to meet the minimum daily fat requirement of 1 adult for one day. Schmaltz (rendered goose fat) Geese are relatively easy to raise and fence, an acre of pasture with shade trees will support 20-40 birds depending on the pasture quality. Goslings can be raised on green feed alone during the pasture period but be fed a finishing ration for 3-4 weeks before processing (except for breeding stock which should not be fattened). Geese are usually sold when they are 5-6 months old at 11-15 pounds. Free ranging birds with access to bugs; grubs, with seeds and vegetable scraps fed in the afternoon to supplement the usual free range layers meal with 16% protein. How much fat can a goose produce? It depends on what and how a goose is fed or force fed. A normal goose with free chaise access to ground corn had body fat of 17.7 to 21% with liver fat of 3.9%. In 1843 Jiebig wrote: ‘When a lean goose weighing 4 pounds, gains, in thirty-six days, during which it has been fed with 24 pounds of maize, 5 pounds in weight and yields 3 pounds of pure fat, this fat = 33%”. A goose stuffed mildly had liver fat of 6.9% with body fat of 37 % but a vigorously stuffed goose also had body fat of 37 % with liver fat of 50%! The stuffing or force-feeding process is where a tube is inserted into the goose’s throat and food is compressed into his stomach it causes the goose’s liver to enlargement up to 10 times its original size. It is, IMO, time consuming, unnatural, unhealthy & cruel. The process of force-feeding for 14-21 days will cause the weight of the liver will increase from an initial weight of about 3 oz to a final weight of between 21 to 36 oz. but the body fat will stay under 40%. For edible fat production, IMO, a free choice fed, finishing feed of ground corn wet mash or soft cooked whole kernel corn for 3 to 4 weeks will produce about 2 ½ lb of Schmaltz (rendered goose fat) and a decent liver from each bird for a minimum daily fat required for 1 adult for13 to20days without the extra labor and cruelty of force-feeding. Vegetable oils There are a number of oil seeds that could be grown here are some: (your yields without proper fertilizer or herbicides and with homemade equipment will be considerably lower. Corn 129 lbs of oil/acre or 18 gal/acre Soybean 335 lb of oil/acre or 48 gal/acre Flax 359 lb of oil/acre or 51 gal/acre pumpkin seed 401 lb of oil/acre or 57 gal/acre sunflowers 714 lb of oil/acre or 102 gal/acre peanuts 795 lb of oil/acre or 113 gal/acre Based on ease of growing, hand harvesting and processing, as well as palatability, I would choose: peanuts, sunflowers, and pumpkin seed in that order. Unfortunately this far north, peanuts are iffy at best but growing black or oil type sunflowers is an option over much of North America. The hulled seed oil content is from 28% in the big seeded confection types to almost 50% in the smaller (think bird seed) oil types. Plus it is a healthy and good tasting cooking oil. Although you can use confectionary types such as MAMMOTH RUSSIAN for oil, don't expect to get more than an ounce and a half from a pound of seed while oilseed produces three or more ounces of oil from a pound of seed The average acre, under survival conditions, sunflower will produce about 50 bushels of seeds (at 28lb of unhulled seed per bushel). Each bushel yields approximately 1 gallon of oil. Hulling or grinding and making a special oil press are required and it is a slow labor intensive process. Grading the seed for size is an important step to take before dehulling. Three sizing boxes: the first with 1/4-inch hardware cloth [wire screen], the second is two layers of 1/4-inch cloth, moved slightly apart to narrow the opening in one direction, and the third is two layers of screen adjusted to make a still-smaller opening. Dehulling can be done with a grain mill where the stones can be opened to 1/8th inch and adjusted to produce whole kernels and hulls split right at the seams. The hulls must then be winnowed from the seed. Oilseed types offer a big advantage; the entire sequence of grading, dehulling and winnowing is avoided. All you need to do is grind the whole, unhulled seed in steel burr mill and grind it to a fine meal, heated it to 170 degrees F. by placing it in a 300-degree F. oven and stirring it every five minutes for 20 minutes, then pressing it while warm. 7 to10 gallons of oil would provide 1 adult’s minimum fat requirements for 1 year. Hogs Before WW2, pigs were an essential part of every farm, being used for home production of lard and pork. Special breeds suitable for producing lard were called "lard-type could be raised to an amazing 70% fat by weight. Lard pigs have become rare today as lard has fallen out of favor. Market hogs from 1950 to 1960 had more than 30 lb of lard produced per animal. From 1965 to date lard production per pig has declined to about 11 lb. To keep feed corn requirements down, pigs are fed kitchen and food scraps, poor quality garden and orchard produce but, especially, good pasture. Three well fenced lots, for rotating, will supply 10 to 15 percent of the total food for a couple of pigs. A typical hog ration fed for period of approximately six months will take the weaned piglet (of about 22 pounds) to the finished hog (of about 200 pounds) stage. Roughly 132 days for195 lbs or 200 days for 325 lbs. From weaning time, a pig should put on about a pound a day. If fed grain entirely, it will eat nearly 900 lb from April to December. But with pasture and surplus produce, vegetables, corn stalks, fruit, skim milk, acorns, and table scraps, even 200 pounds of grain will produce a lean pig if butchered young. However, if we want lard, we can go back to feeding pigs with straight corn and some grass for vitamins and allowing them to get to 330 lb before slaughter rather than as they are now slaughtered younger, when they are 250 lb. Rule of thumb says that for every 3 lb of feed, the pig will gain 1 pound in weight. If you feed the pork straight corn (which is what he likes), the pound he gains will produce a high lard content. Every extra bushel of corn beyond the amount he really needs yields almost 20 pounds of lard. An old sow, while not the best eating, can produce 110 lb of lard. 50 to 70 pounds of lard will supply the minimum daily fat requirement of an adult for 1 year