Sheep Grease is also know as LANOLIN! I was in back with Chris and Lee, our Chefs du Jour, and there was a rather pungent odor coming off a barrel in the blending area. Pure barnyard. And Chris told me it was Sheep Grease. Which is of course, lanolin.
The history of lanolin dates back to 8000 years when people first began to use the substance derived from sheep wool. Going by ancient Egyptian history, we find that the primeval Egyptians placed blocks of lanolin on their head. When this lanolin melted in the sun and spread over the face, it made the skin soft. Several therapeutic and pharmaceutical texts written during the last 2000 years offer us valuable information and guidelines regarding the use of lanolin. In fact, the term lanolin is derived from the Latin words ‘lana’ meaning wool and ‘oleum’ denoting oil. However, chemically, lanolin is not oil, but a kind of wax. To be precise, lanolin is secreted by the sebaceous glands in sheep and shields their coat from rain and other natural elements.
Lanolin is derived from the wool after shearing the fleece of sheep and it is interesting to note that extraction of lanolin does not cause any harm to these animals. Normally, 100 pounds of wool or fleece from sheep produce merely two to four pounds of lanolin. The best thing about lanolin is that the substance is a replenishing natural resource and not a synthetic compound produced artificially.
And we use lanolin in a variety of our products.
So how much shearing goes on to fill a 55 gallon drum? How about 12,000 lbs of wool! That is over 1600 sheep's worth of fine waterproofing..
The Pied Piper
