What is the difference between Shortening and Lard?

A lot of people usually assume that shortening and lard are the same. In fact, a lot of people may use these terms interchangeably. There is one obvious difference between the two, though. Lard comes with a taste that is very distinct. Shortening does not have any taste, so you can use it more often.

Lard is also known to come from animal fat, which means that it will have more calories as compared to shortening. If you are checking out some recipes and if you are wondering if you can interchange the two, it will highly depend on the type of dish that you are creating. The brands you use might make some differences too.