For thousands of years tallow has been a widely used ingredient in everyday households. After decades of hydrogenated seeds oils and chemically laden skin care products, tallow is finally coming back into style. The smarty pants may lament the fact that us laymen are opting to use this natural product, even though it wasn’t tested in a lab. The benefits of tallow, especially from grass fed beef, far out compete any chemically processed, FDA approved vegetable oil on the market today.
With all the junk in our food and beauty products, maybe tallow is the swap you need.
What is tallow?
Tallow is the rendered fat from animals such as buffaloes, cows, deer, goats, and sheep. The best quality tallow will come from the fat around the organs called “suet”. All fat from these animals can be rendered down and used in the kitchen. The suet, however, tends to have more nutrients in it as well as a milder flavor.
If you are reading this, it’s probably safe to assume that you are a fellow meat eater. As such including rendered fat in your families diet is a great way to exercise nose to tail eating. No part of an animal should go to waste, especially something as nourishing and delicious as tallow!
Sourcing your tallow
Look for tallow that’s been harvested from grass feed and finished beef. Search your area for regenerative farmers. These farmers typically go above and beyond simply organic farmers. They prioritize soil health, feed the animals what they were designed to consume, and never ever use chemicals in their pastures. The most nutritious foods will come from a regenerative farmer/homesteader.
If you can’t find anything in your area, you can either purchase prerendered tallow online, at a farm market store, or purchase and render your own suet.
Local butchers and meat shops will often sell suet, especially if you ask nicely 😀 They might not have regeneratively raised meats and fats, but they often sell natural and fresh meats. Certainly of higher quality then some chain grocery stores.
Benefits of tallow
Tallow is primarily made up of saturated and monounsaturated fats, which is why it remains solid at room temperature. It contains:
- stearic acid
- palmitic acid
- oleic acid
- conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) which has anti-inflammatory properties
- choline
- vitamins A, D, K, E and B12.
This combination of fatty acids and vitamins helps play a roll in healthy cholesterol levels as well as supporting healthy cell and brain functions. And no endocrine disrupters!
It’s fatty acid structure is similar to that of our skin. It can help moisturize the skin and protect it. In soaps, tallow has shown to be an effective disinfectant.
Using tallow in food
Tallow stored at room temperature can last for up to a year and a half before going rancid. Cold pressed seed oils typically don’t store near as long without refrigeration. If you’re home is especially hot during the summer, throwing the tallow into the fridge or freezer will also help to extend its shelf life.
Tallow has a high smoke point, up to 480F, making it perfect for deep frying (fries, please!), roasting and searing. It’s also great in baked goods such as delicious flaky pie crusts and tortillas.
Choose tallow instead of olive oil if cooking at high temperatures. Tallow will maintain its nutrition at high temperatures unlike olive oil which can oxidize and fill your body with free radicals.
Definitely swap out any vegetable shortening you may have in your home with tallow. It’ll make your food taste better while rounding out a healthy diet.
See?? Healthy food should taste good!
Benefits of tallow for the skin
Tallow is similar to our skin which allows it to penetrate our skins protective barrier and provide lasting moisturization. This was a life saver for me when I was dealing with dry cracked skin around my cheeks and mouth thanks to a very dry winter. In a matter of days the cracking was gone and my skin became soft again.
It also makes for an excellent soap! If you’ve never made soap before check out this post, then in no time you’ll be able to whip up some wonderful, skin loving tallow soap that’s fairly inexpensive 😉 Tallow makes a hard bar of soap that lasts long even in the humidity of your shower. In some studies tallow soap was shown to help the body heal from injuries without being overly drying like many soaps can be.
With tallow you can make:
- Soaps and shampoo bars. I love my tallow based shampoo bars, especially the shea butter and tallow combo
- Balms
- Body butter
- Salve
- Chap stick
- Conditioners
You can also make herbal infusions with your tallow to boost it’s healing and nourishing capabilities. Then use your herbed tallow to make any of the wonderful creations listed above. You can also make your own homemade candles using tallow and beeswax 😀
For more on the benefits of tallow for skin care check out this fascinating article by the Weston A. Price Foundation.
Go ahead, get started using tallow now!
The benefits of tallow far out weigh any risk that the experts may be concerned with. After all, heart disease wasn’t an issue until the low fat and processed foods diet became all the rage. I’ll take millennia of human experience with this product as all the proof I need to know it’s safe for me and my family.
It tastes amazing, is packed with vitamins and healthy fats, and makes great skin care products as well. It’s a regenerative product that you can produce in your own back yard if you wanted to! For all the fear over cow farts, somehow I think those are better for the environment than trucking and boating in food and products from all over the world.
What’s not to love?
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