Reg I was thinking when CH made that reply, that the process or something similar was probably still used, just "sugar coated" with another term, to make it sound good.
Reg lard is pork, tallow is beef although from what I can gather, tallow is harder than lard.
Bec tallow if not rendered properly will go off too, as it is an animal product. I once had a lady give me a 20lt container that was supposedly rendered tallow, but she hadn't done it right, and what a smelly mess I had to clean up.
Have you made soap before? Tallow makes a great cleaning soap, and is especially good as a laundry soap.
I just ordered 10kg of suet from the butcher to make some more soap. The family is going to love me rendering that hehehe.
Last time they threatened to move me down to the back paddock with the bbq. I use sage, cloves and eucalyptus oil in the suet to mask the smell somewhat. What I really want to try is a tallow candle, but the family just about had a fit when I suggested that. Might do one anyway just for the sake of trying one.
What I am interested in though is trying CH's suggestion of wrapping and dipping in lard/tallow. That sounds promising.