Innkeeper’s Suet Recipe
Our special Earth Day gift to birds here at Big Mill Bird & Breakfast
Earth Day is just around the corner, so it seemed like a perfect time to celebrate the birds we love with a suet recipe they delight in eating.
When I am cooking for the bed and breakfast guests, I also make suet for our lovely feathered travelers. And this suet recipe is made from things that we all have in our larders, especially innkeepers. Recipe below is easy!
Well, those of you who live north of Virginia might not have the lard, but you could render your own “Suet fat” out of bacon fat and other fats. Southerners know and understand lard and we have a deep respect for this delicacy.
Innkeeper’s Suet for the Birds
• 6 eggshells (about ¼ cup crushed) *
• 1 cup lard – no substitutions unless you use rendered fat. NO CRISCO
• 1 cup crunchy peanut butter
• 1 cup leftover granola
• 1 cup uncooked oats
• ½ cup seeds like sunflower, pumpkin seeds or bird seed
• ½ cup dried fruit like raisins, cranberries, blueberries, dates, etc.
• ½ cup chopped nuts
• 1 cup corn meal
• 1 cup flour
• Optional: ½ cup fresh, chopped fruit like pears, apple, orange, strawberries or blueberries if you are using Suet right away
• large pine cone & about 6 feet of strong string
Wash eggshells and microwave wet shells for 4 minutes. Cool and crush.
Put lard and peanut butter into large cooking pan and heat on low heat till soft. Remove from heat and add eggshells, granola, oats, bird seed, dried fruit, nuts, corn meal and fresh fruit if you are using it.
Allow to cool until it is no longer “runny.” You can refrigerate if you need it to cool quicker but it might get too stiff.
Stuff the suet into the pine cone. Tie a long string about 1/4 way down pine cone and leave about 4 feet tail on the string. Hang from a tree limb.
* (you can omit eggs shells)
Yield: 4 ½ cups
Remember that all the birds can’t eat from your suet feeder. Cardinals are ground feeders, so throw some out for them on the ground. This Innkeeper’s Suet Recipe is a great way to recycle too. We have other suet recipes here.
Innkeepers Recipe from Big Mill Bed and Breakfast 252-792-8787
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