Hi all, sorry to be off topic, if you only want plant-related discussion, read no further!

Over the winter I've regularly been making a birdy mix for the garden with crumbs, old cake bits and mostly bacon fat from the grill. But I have a vague worry - I've heard that birds can't process salt and I wonder if it's possible that salt from the bacon stays in the fat?

Is this an irrational fear? Am I being daft? Or should I stop using grill fat and stick to the Crisp n Dry?

Incidentally, the birds love it and the garden fills up within ten minutes of it going out into my wee hanging containers.

Any opinions appreciated! Thanks, Bob

"undergroundbob" wrote in message
...

Hi all, sorry to be off topic, if you only want plant-related
discussion, read no further!

Over the winter I've regularly been making a birdy mix for the garden
with crumbs, old cake bits and mostly bacon fat from the grill. But I
have a vague worry - I've heard that birds can't process salt and I
wonder if it's possible that salt from the bacon stays in the fat?

Is this an irrational fear? Am I being daft? Or should I stop using
grill fat and stick to the Crisp n Dry?

Incidentally, the birds love it and the garden fills up within ten
minutes of it going out into my wee hanging containers.
Any opinions appreciated! Thanks, Bob

See :
http://www.rspb.org/birds/advice/birdsalt/index.asp
and
http://www.rspb.org/gardens/whatyouc.../what_food.asp

Jenny :~))

--

"undergroundbob" wrote in message
...

Hi all, sorry to be off topic, if you only want plant-related
discussion, read no further!

Over the winter I've regularly been making a birdy mix for the garden
with crumbs, old cake bits and mostly bacon fat from the grill. But I
have a vague worry - I've heard that birds can't process salt and I
wonder if it's possible that salt from the bacon stays in the fat?

Is this an irrational fear? Am I being daft? Or should I stop using
grill fat and stick to the Crisp n Dry?

Incidentally, the birds love it and the garden fills up within ten
minutes of it going out into my wee hanging containers.

Any opinions appreciated! Thanks, Bob
salt kills birds.
--
www.fenland-fowl.com

"Janet Baraclough" wrote in message
...
The message
from undergroundbob contains
these words:


Hi all, sorry to be off topic, if you only want plant-related
discussion, read no further!

Over the winter I've regularly been making a birdy mix for the garden
with crumbs, old cake bits and mostly bacon fat from the grill. But I
have a vague worry - I've heard that birds can't process salt and I
wonder if it's possible that salt from the bacon stays in the fat?

Is this an irrational fear? Am I being daft? Or should I stop using
grill fat and stick to the Crisp n Dry?

Incidentally, the birds love it and the garden fills up within ten
minutes of it going out into my wee hanging containers.

Any opinions appreciated! Thanks, Bob

Bacon has other additives too. My butcher supplies on request (free)
big bags of fresh raw suet, the lumps of fat he hacks off beef
carcases. I bung it in a big pan and melt it down in the stove, remove
any undissolved gristle, and you have an ideal clear liquid fat for
mixing with crumbs, seeds, porridge oats, dried fruit etc. Pour it into
moulds and cool; it sets nice and hard. Birds love it.

Janet

I've done the same with what the butcher at the local store calls "meat
dust" which is just the fine ground meats and fats and bone dust and
everything else that they accumulate. I put mine in a loaf pan and bake it
down, and believe it or not, the woodpeckers adore it! The fat that cooks
off the "meat dust" I pour into another disposable aluminum pan and then I
use black sunflower seeds and make suet cakes for my many suet hangies.
They love the protein during these cold spells. g

maddie up on a cloudy, gloomy grayish-blue day of me birth,up on the ridge,
back in Faerie Holler, where my sweet Squire baked me an Amaretto birthday
cake with cherries for a smiley face! (not often we're the same age as the
year we're born)-- overlooking English Mountain in Eastern Tennessee

The message
from undergroundbob contains
these words:

Hi all, sorry to be off topic, if you only want plant-related
discussion, read no further!

Over the winter I've regularly been making a birdy mix for the garden
with crumbs, old cake bits and mostly bacon fat from the grill. But I
have a vague worry - I've heard that birds can't process salt and I
wonder if it's possible that salt from the bacon stays in the fat?

It can, and it does.

Is this an irrational fear? Am I being daft? Or should I stop using
grill fat and stick to the Crisp n Dry?

You can use it, but clarify it first by putting it in a saucepan with
some water and boiling it for five minutes. This dissolves the salt.

Incidentally, the birds love it and the garden fills up within ten
minutes of it going out into my wee hanging containers.

Any opinions appreciated! Thanks,

You can often get free fat from a butcher. Just cut it into chunks and
pass a string through them and hang them up.

If I'm rendering fat, I often do that with the left-overs - unless I
turn them into scratchings.

--
Rusty
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk
Separator in search of a sig

In message , madgardener
writes
maddie up on a cloudy, gloomy grayish-blue day of me birth,up on the
ridge, back in Faerie Holler, where my sweet Squire baked me an
Amaretto birthday cake with cherries for a smiley face! (not often
we're the same age as the year we're born)-- overlooking English
Mountain in Eastern Tennessee

Happy birthday, maddie!

--
Klara, Gatwick basin

Rusty Hinge 2 wrote:
The message
from undergroundbob
contains these words:

[...]
But I have a vague worry - I've heard that birds can't process
salt
and I wonder if it's possible that salt from the bacon stays in
the
fat?

It can, and it does.

Is this an irrational fear? Am I being daft? Or should I stop
using
grill fat and stick to the Crisp n Dry?

You can use it, but clarify it first by putting it in a saucepan
with
some water and boiling it for five minutes. This dissolves the
salt.
[...]

But I don't think the dripping from grilled bacon actually has much
salt in it: doesn't seem to when I spread it on bread, anyhow. Are my
taste-buds getting insensitive?

--
Mike.

The message
from "Mike Lyle" contains these words:

But I don't think the dripping from grilled bacon actually has much
salt in it: doesn't seem to when I spread it on bread, anyhow. Are my
taste-buds getting insensitive?

A lot of bacon doesn't have much salt in it these days, either.

I buy proper bacon, which if hung up in a lump soon grows a crust of
salt crystals.

--
Rusty
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk
Separator in search of a sig

On 6/1/06 0:06, in article , "Klara"
wrote:

In message , madgardener
writes
maddie up on a cloudy, gloomy grayish-blue day of me birth,up on the
ridge, back in Faerie Holler, where my sweet Squire baked me an
Amaretto birthday cake with cherries for a smiley face! (not often
we're the same age as the year we're born)-- overlooking English
Mountain in Eastern Tennessee

Happy birthday, maddie!

And from me, a fellow Capricorn - no wonder you live on a mountain. ;-)

--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)

Rusty Hinge 2 wrote:
The message
from "Mike Lyle" contains
these
words:

But I don't think the dripping from grilled bacon actually has
much
salt in it: doesn't seem to when I spread it on bread, anyhow. Are
my
taste-buds getting insensitive?

A lot of bacon doesn't have much salt in it these days, either.

Yes, and so it doesn't keep. Made worse by the wholesale substitution
of water for salt.

I buy proper bacon, which if hung up in a lump soon grows a crust
of
salt crystals.

Ah, yum! About a twice-a-year treat for me, I'm afraid: but it makes
a very welcome Christmas present for favoured relatives. I never
actually got it together to cure my own when I had pigs: I'll regret
it for the rest of my life.

--
Mike.

Thanks for all responses, especially Rusty with your fat expertise! (as it were)

And I can't believe I didn't think of tasting the fat to see if it's salty - what an eejit (slaps forhead and admits annoyed grunt).

The message
from "Mike Lyle" contains these words:

A lot of bacon doesn't have much salt in it these days, either.

Yes, and so it doesn't keep. Made worse by the wholesale substitution
of water for salt.

And injected milk protein.

I buy proper bacon, which if hung up in a lump soon grows a crust
of
salt crystals.

Ah, yum! About a twice-a-year treat for me, I'm afraid: but it makes
a very welcome Christmas present for favoured relatives. I never
actually got it together to cure my own when I had pigs: I'll regret
it for the rest of my life.

But the pigs were happy...

--
Rusty
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk
Separator in search of a sig

--

www.fenland-fowl.com
"Sacha" wrote in message
.uk...
On 6/1/06 0:06, in article , "Klara"
wrote:

In message , madgardener
writes
maddie up on a cloudy, gloomy grayish-blue day of me birth,up on the
ridge, back in Faerie Holler, where my sweet Squire baked me an
Amaretto birthday cake with cherries for a smiley face! (not often
we're the same age as the year we're born)-- overlooking English
Mountain in Eastern Tennessee

Happy birthday, maddie!

And from me, a fellow Capricorn - no wonder you live on a mountain. ;-)
song High on the hill lives a lonely goat-herd yay odeelay odeelayhehooo
song

THanks!! It's not often that we are the age of the year we're born in!!
(53........)
"Klara" wrote in message
...
In message , madgardener
writes
maddie up on a cloudy, gloomy grayish-blue day of me birth,up on the
ridge, back in Faerie Holler, where my sweet Squire baked me an Amaretto
birthday cake with cherries for a smiley face! (not often we're the same
age as the year we're born)-- overlooking English Mountain in Eastern
Tennessee

Happy birthday, maddie!

--
Klara, Gatwick basin

why thank you fellow Cappie.............g
"PammyT" wrote in message
...


--

www.fenland-fowl.com
"Sacha" wrote in message
.uk...
On 6/1/06 0:06, in article ,
"Klara"
wrote:

In message , madgardener
writes
maddie up on a cloudy, gloomy grayish-blue day of me birth,up on the
ridge, back in Faerie Holler, where my sweet Squire baked me an
Amaretto birthday cake with cherries for a smiley face! (not often
we're the same age as the year we're born)-- overlooking English
Mountain in Eastern Tennessee

Happy birthday, maddie!

And from me, a fellow Capricorn - no wonder you live on a mountain. ;-)
song High on the hill lives a lonely goat-herd yay odeelay odeelayhehooo
song