Today's cheap candles are made of paraffin, a petroleum byproduct discovered during the early years of the twentieth century. By then the cattle industry was in full development and tallow came from beeves rather than (as formerly) sheep or pigs. A bull butchered for meat provided enough fat to make twenty-six dozen candles. And when the entrepreneurial Yankee ship captains carried hides to the colonies for the shoemakers, they also brought along the fat from the animals.

Unlike today's simple wax-melting procedure, the chandler of old didn't merely melt the fat. He processed it by rendering it in boiling water. This allowed the fibrous material to rise to the surface, from where it was skimmed off, just as one skims scum from a pot of meat broth today. The vessels used were called “trying pots,” and the term “to try out” (meaning “to render fat”) is still used in some areas of the United States. These trying pots were made of copper, battered out by the local coppersmith. When making dipped candles, the chandler ladled the hot fat into another vat of rectangular shape for pre-cooling prior to dipping. This was because hot tallow left a thin layer on a dipped wick; worse, it could melt the earlier dipped layers. Conversely, if the tallow cooled too much it made lumpy layers. When that happened, a fire had to be built up under the pot to reheat the tallow, not an easy job.

An Old Recipe for Lard Candles

Take 12 pounds lard, 1 pound saltpeter, 1 pound alum. Pulverize and mix the saltpeter and alum; dissolve the compound in a gill of boiling water; pour the compound into the lard before it is quite melted. Stir the whole until it boils, and skim off what rises. Let it simmer until the water is all boiled out, or until it ceases to throw off steam. Pour off the lard as soon as it is done, and clean the boiler while it is hot. If the candles are to be run in a mould, you may commence at once, but if to be dipped, let the lard cool first and cake. Then treat as you would tallow.*