Tallow

Tallow is hard fat rendered from the fatty tissue of cattle or sheep. Its high solid-fat content makes it useful in cooking, soap, candles, and lubricants.

Rendering (food processing): Rendering separates usable fat from animal tissue by heating and straining. Rendering turns fatty tissue into the purified, shelf-stable fat called tallow.
Tallow candle: A tallow candle is a candle made from rendered animal fat, commonly beef or mutton fat. Tallow’s solid form made it a widely used candle material before petroleum waxes.
Beef fat: Beef fat is fatty tissue obtained from cattle, including suet surrounding the kidneys. Rendered beef fat is the most familiar source of tallow.
Lard: Lard is rendered fat from pigs, used in cooking and other products. Lard is another rendered animal fat, but comes from pigs and is generally softer.
Adipose tissue: Adipose tissue is connective tissue that stores energy mainly as fat. Tallow is extracted from the fatty tissue of animals.
Soap: Soap is a salt of fatty acids, commonly made by reacting fats or oils with an alkali. Saponification converts tallow into soaps valued for hardness and lather.
Mutton fat: Mutton fat is the fatty tissue of an adult sheep. Rendered mutton fat is another traditional source of tallow.
Butter: Butter is a dairy product made by churning cream, consisting mostly of milk fat. Butter is a softer dairy fat with water and milk solids, unlike rendered tallow.
Saturated fat: Saturated fats are fatty acids whose carbon chains contain no carbon–carbon double bonds. Their abundance helps make tallow firm at room temperature.
Saponification: Saponification is the alkaline hydrolysis of fats or oils into glycerol and fatty-acid salts. This reaction is the chemical basis for making soap from tallow.

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CandleRelated: Tallow candles were common but often smoky and malodorous.