Make Your Own Suet

Here’s a great little project for cooler days spent indoors: making suet for the birds. It is really simple and closely resembles many cookie recipes! Most suets have five ingredients in common, the foundation, if you will: peanut butter, flour, quick cook oats, corn meal and lard. Yes, lard. The real McCoy, no substitutes here. As gross as it sounds to you and me, birds love it and it gives them much needed fat during the cold winter months. You can purchase bars of lard in the section of your local market where shortenings and flour are found. Once your foundation is built, it really is a matter of adding goodies to entice certain birds to your yard. Unsalted peanuts, raisins, unsalted sunflower hearts and currants are all wonderful choices to attract songbirds to your yard. Below are a few recipes to get you started. Enjoy!

 

No Frills Basic Suet
- 2 C Lard
- 2 C Peanut Butter
- 4 C Quick Cook Oats
- 4 C Corn Meal
- 2 C All-Purpose Flour
- 2/3 C Sugar
- 1 C Peanuts, unsalted

Melt lard and peanut butter in a nonstick pot on the stove and add remaining ingredients. Sunflower hearts or raisins may be added as well. Shape into 1-1/2” thick cakes and wrap in wax paper. Freeze until needed.


A Batch for Bluebirds
- 4 C Yellow Corn Meal
- 1 C All-Purpose Flour
- 1 C Lard
- 1 C Peanut Butter
- 3/4 C Small Currants
- 1-1/2 C Peanuts, unsalted
- 1-1/2 C Sunflower hearts, unsalted
- 1 C Raisins

Melt lard and peanut butter in a nonstick pot on the stove and add remaining ingredients. Shape into 1-1/2” thick cakes and wrap in wax paper. Freeze until needed.


Woodpecker’s Dream
- 1 C Lard
- 1 C Peanut Butter
- 2 C Quick Cook Oats
- 2 C Corn Meal
- 1 C All-Purpose Flour
- 2 C Peanuts, unsalted

Melt lard and peanut butter in a nonstick pot on the stove and add remaining ingredients. Sunflower hearts or raisins may be added as well. Shape into 1-1/2” thick cakes and wrap in wax paper. Freeze until needed.

Happy Bird Watching!
Heather W.
Fairview Greenhouses & Garden Center