How to Make Homemade Suet

Contributor

By Heidi Braley
eHow Contributing Writer

Article Rating: (4 Ratings)

Fancy Suet Feeder

During the cold months of winter when the thermometer drops below freezing most days, wild birds enjoy having a tasty treat of homemade suet. Since it mostly fat, it helps give them extra calories during the leaner months. Read on to learn how to make homemade suet.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Meat lard
Peanut butter
Bird seed
Muffin tins
Onion mesh bag

Step 1

Stored fat can be used to make suet.

One of the easiest ways to make your own suet is to save the fat that you skim off your stocks and gravies by pouring it into a container to keep in the refrigerator until you are ready to form suet cakes.
Step 2

Strips of fat

Suet in its original form is the fat that was found around the beef kidneys but today, lard is generally used. In fact, in some grocery stores you can buy strips of fat to be used for suet. Since this fat can go rancid in warmer temperatures, it is best to make it only for the cooler months.
Step 3

Suet mixture

Choose some natural additions, like cornmeal, birdseed, chopped apples or millet. Consider sticking to foods without additives or sugar or salt such as found in breads or crackers. Use a ratio of 1:1, fat to additions.
Step 4

Muffin tins

Heat the fat until it transforms into liquid. Remove from heat and add additions. Stir well and pour into muffin tins. Cool until firm.
Step 5

Bird enjoying suet

Now place the suet cake into an onion mesh bag and hang outside from a tree branch. A fun project for children is to take the suet mixture and smear it into a pine cone. Hang it from a tree branch as a natural feeder.