Schmaltz is a German word meaning rendered fat. Rendering removes impurities and creates a wonderful substance, useful for far more than frying. Goose schmaltz is among the most prized.

There's some contention about the source of my family's name. Some believe that it was adopted in the 1600s, when the pope declared that all people needed to have a last name, for tax records. Until then, many people simply went by their given name and their profession, like David the Fat Renderer. Some early tax protesters took names that would embarrass the tax collector. Now common German names like Gross and Schmaltz apparently caused the tax collectors to blush. The other story says that candlemakers in Alsace/Lorraine were called Schmaltz, because they collected and rendered fat to make their candles.

Both sources seem fitting. I have been known to complain about my taxes. And also to create candles.

Pure Schmaltz contains the rendered fat content from several sources.

The Mastering Project Work Yahoo! Discussion Group

The ProjectCommunity.com community

As well as some slippery bits from personal writing, speaking, and publishing efforts.

Responding to many requests to create a Blog presence, I intend this weblog to contain selected chunks of the most my succulent work.

I make no promises about frequency of posting here. When I find a goose, I'll render the fat and display it here.

Welcome!

David A. Schmaltz
david@projectcommunity.com