Early Maine homesteads were lit by fast-burning, smoky and very meaty-smelling candles.
That’s because beeswax candles were very expensive in the United States until well into the 19th century.
Instead, people lived by the light of candles made from tallow, or animal fat such as cattle, sheep or deer that was rendered by heating it until the moisture separated out, making it shelf-stable.
They were smelly and smoky (Charles’ Dickens 1852 novel “Bleak House” describes numerous characters tasting meat in the air), but cheap and easy to make.
Some homesteaders are still making them today as a self-sufficient use of extra fat that they see as less toxic than paraffin or soy, and some modern tallow processing methods create a less stinky, smoky burn.
You can see inside the traditional process with complete step-by-step instructions published in an 1842 edition of the Bangor Daily Whig and Courier, which later merged with the BDN.
“As much trouble and labor is occasioned by want of skill, I will, in order to enable people to obviate this, give some brief directions for dipping candles,” an unidentified columnist wrote.
Here are the steps, in more contemporary language. You’ll start with tallow, which you can render yourself with fatty meat or purchase it.
Pour boiling water into a wooden vessel “of convenient height and depth,” and leave it for at least an hour to heat through. If you don’t have a wooden vessel, iron will do. Empty the water, melt your tallow and ladle it into the vessel, filling it within an inch of the top.
The tallow doesn’t need to be boiling — you should be able to dip your finger into it comfortably. If it’s too hot, it won’t cling to the wick.
As you work on your candles, keep refilling the vessel to this level with more tallow or with hot water. This will prevent them from tapering at the top, “as is often seen with country candles.”
Dip the wicks in very gradually, then pull them up so slowly that they don’t drip when you remove them from the tallow. Moving slowly will keep them a uniform size, and avoids leaving a chunk of tallow with no wick at the bottom of the candle.
The author concludes that this method takes half as much work as whatever the conventional approach might have been in her day, and said it should be easy to master.
Take note that traditional tallow candles like this will not burn like beeswax, and you should keep an eye on them. If a fire happens with tallow, don’t pour water on it; cover it instead.
Pouring the tallow into glass jars could be easier than a dipped taper candle, and many modern candlemakers mix the tallow with beeswax for more stability. Some essential oils that are safe to burn can help offset the meaty smell.
And if candles really aren’t for you, tallow is also regaining popularity as a soap ingredient and a general moisturizer.
