What are the health benefits of beef tallow? What the heck is beef tallow? And why in the world would people use beef tallow in skincare? These are the questions we will be deep diving into here today. Beef tallow is simply rendered beef fat. Grass-fed grass-finished beef tallow has quite a lot of health benefits in the form of vitamins and nutrients our bodies need. Tallow is one of the oldest skincare secrete ingredients used for hundreds of years to keep the skin moisturized and hydrated.
What is Grass-Fed Beef Tallow
Beef tallow is rendered, cooked down, fat from a cow that is mostly used in cooking, soap, and candle making. While it is not an ingredient in high demand today due to the flux of cheap GMO seed oils that flooded our culture. Beef tallow has been used for hundreds of years. Native Americans considered tallow (from beef or buffalo or other animals) a staple in their diets.
When tallow is left at room temperature, it remains pliable, almost like soft butter. Cooking with tallow in lieu of olive oil, vegetable oils, or butter is a great option not only for the amazing flavor it brings but also for the high smoke point that tallow yields.
Tallow is great for deep frying and any cooking that requires high heat.
What is the difference between Tallow and Lard?
Tallow and lard are very similar the key difference is one comes from a cow – tallow and the other from a pig – lard. Tallow also can be rendered down to near tasteless and scentless whereas lard is known and loved for that bacon flavor it adds to anything that you cook in it.
Because of this tallow has been the chosen fat of choice for generations in making soaps and candles. Before the days of Amazon Prime delivering any oil you want to your door in a day or less, the pioneers used what they had.
Waste not want not was the way of life. Nose-to-tail as it has been coined in the carnivore diet movement is what we call this now. Using the whole animal is still so important for so many different reasons even if it has nothing to do with being essential to our survival.
Grass-fed Grass-finished Beef Vs Factory Farmed Beef
When it comes to beef in general there is a HUGE difference between grass-fed grass-finished organic free foraging beef and what our culture has dubbed the new normal without giving it any thought the factory-farmed beef.
There are many factors that differentiate between these two types of beef. We will quickly cover a few key differences in hopes that you will look further into this issue, but for now, we hope to share enough to lead you to want to vote with your dollar in what you choose to purchase.
Please hang with me here friend! This is information you want to read slowly and really let sink in. Your health is in your hands, I hope you want to know what you’re putting in your mouth with those hands.
Factory Farmed Beef
Factory-farmed beef simply refers to the mass production of beef, namely, beef that rarely if ever sees open pastors for grazing while instead of being fed an extremely high fat (not the good kinda fat either) diet or GMO corn and soy with the aim to fatten them up as fast as possible to make money off them faster.
Humanly speaking cows that are born to be fattened up within a year and sent to processing is a pretty sickening though. Add to that these animals rarely see open fields past birth to a couple of months old to be able to roam and graze as nature intended.
The ‘conventionally-farmed’ beef is fed an unnatural diet of GMO corn and soy. Many toxins are stored in grain-fed animals which in turn end up in the food eaten, gross!
Around six or seven months cattle are then hauled to over crowed feedlots, most of them are lucky to get enough space to even walk around at the over crowed feedlots they are raised in.
If you want to see something that will make your head spin and stomach turn search undercover at feedlots, undercover at dairy farms, or for that matter undercover at chicken factories.
WARNING – please do not have children in the room while watching and if you have a weak stomach and tender heart as I do you will NOT want to do this! It is absolutely sticking to what people are capable of and what is happening to these poor animals pretty much on a daily basis.
Feeding on troughs with the only space to stand being mountains of their own poo…..
From a humanly speaking standpoint, I am not sure how this is even legal. Sadly, most people never think about where their food comes from. They just grab a pound of beef at Walmart and go on about their shopping.
This alone is enough for me to want to shop for organic grass-fed grass-finished, which if you buy this in a store is almost always also marked as “humanly raised”.
The poor treatment and lives of factory-raised beef are not the only reason to buy grass-fed grass-finished beef. There are two other key reasons.
Next, is the feed the cows on factory farms are fed. Not only is it GMO – Genetically Modified and often even worse it is not even real food anymore. Deemed “not ok for human consumption” they use it as animal feed.
If I had to guess they assume the cows will only have a year, two max to life so meh who cares they won’t even have time to get sick and die from the food.
BUT……
Who is eating the cows that just ate the ‘frankin-food’ not deemed fit for human consumption?
YIKES…. humans are.
We also have to consider if the diets the cows are eating is to “fatten them up faster” wouldn’t eating those cows fatten us up faster too.
Bingo. Obesity in the US is at an all-time high. Well, we know one of the many reasons now right?
Lastly, all of the amazing nutrients and vitamins that the cows provide us are in their diets – not in the cows. Let me explain. If you were to see a bright vibrant huge healthy salmon on the table at the fish market, then you see a puny odd grey-ish-looking salmon that honestly you could not even tell what kind of fish it was.
Which would you grab for?
Obviously the healthy one right? Too bad we do not get to see fresh what we are choosing at the supermarkets right?
But the healthy salmon at the fish market reflects a fish that got all the food, nutrients, swimming, and so on that, it needed. The other was most likely sick or deprived of all the nutrients it needed to thrive.
Cows play a VERY important role in our ecosystems. Dr. Mark Hyman once joked when interviewed by a vegan that one of the best things a vegan could do for the planet is eating a grass-fed grass-finished burger.
Not only do cows eat grass which provided them nutrients we later get from them that we could never get on our own. Cows have eight stomachs, crazy right? They also chew up the grass and throw it back up to chew more (yuck I know but it’s true). Grasses and plants they eat have soooo many amazing nutrients that our human stomachs and jaws could never process ourselves.
This same concept is true of all hooved animals such as deer, lamb, and so forth.
Grass-Fed Grass-Finished Beef – Free Foraging Cows
photo credit from the local farm we purchase our grass-fed grass-finished free foraging cows from Weathers Farms in Oklahoma
At a glance
Grass-fed Grass-Finished Beef Benefits:
- is LOADED with antioxidants
- anti-microbial palmitoleic acid
- conjugated linoleic acid (linked to cancer prevention and improved brain function)
- rich source of vitamin E, A, K, and D
- contains more carotenoids
- fat-soluble vitamins
- omega 3 fatty acid
These are just a few of the reasons we vote with our purchasing power and buy only grass-fed grass-finished beef, shop local which supports ‘the little guy’, and we get to know the farmer’s ethics and practices.
Beef tallow, back in the days were “grass-fed grass-finished organic” did not need to be stated because that was the only way of raising beef, buffalo, and other hoofed animals (goat, sheep, etc). Before the supermarkets became the primary source of food, families used tallows and lard for EVERYTHING. Cooking, skincare, candles, you name it. These families lived the ‘nose to tail’ lifestyle using every part of any animal harvested. Waste not, want not.
Tallow also has the highest smoke point (400°F / 200° C) making this the ONLY oil anyone should be used in deep frying. This used to be the oil even Mcdonald’s used to fry their french fries until the dreaded seed oils hit the scene.
I plan on doing a full in-depth post on seed oils and the havoc they wreak on our brain health in another post, so for now, check out this post on the harmful effects of seed oils here by one of my favorites Dr. Mark Hyman after of course you finish reading this article.
Dr. Hyman was interviewing a brain doctor on his podcast “The Doctors Farmacy” about seed oils and the brain doctor shared a story of a restaurant using seed oils to fry foods and when they were taking their cook’s apron coats to the dry cleaners they literally caught on fire in the van to the dry cleaners.
A crazy story you have to hear the whole thing but to sum it up for my point here – seed oils were never meant to be used in heat, just the process of extracting oils from seeds like some of the most popular grapeseed, soybean oil, and canola oils found in just about every processed food, yes sadly even organic foods.
And in this case, even “organic” cannot fix the problem created by distilling these seed oils.
Healthy Oils & Fats:
- Grass-fed Grass-finished Beef Tallow
- Clean organic free foredge pork fat – lard
- Organic Olive oils (we love this one – Braggs Organic Olive Oil)
- Avocado Oil (this is a good one – Better Body Foods Avocado Oil)
Tallow in Skincare
Using grass-fed grass-finished beef tallow in skincare yeilds just as many benefits as it does when we eat it. The reason for this is that our skin is our largest organ. Meaning it literally “drinks” anything that is put on it.
Above I mentioned how one recent study found that the average American woman put over 515 synthetic chemicals on her skin a day. Mind-blowing. But when we consider the cosmetic and skincare industry alone that is where a bulk of the toxic chemicals are coming from.
Sadly, working in the beauty industry for years when I was in college, store-bought skincare is chemically formulated to “reduce the appearance” of (fill in the blank) redness, deep lines and wrinkles, and so on. This means the ingredients were never meant to “fix” the problems but to literally act as fillers to cover them up.
I will not name any names but one line I worked for sold a serum that was $85+ (this was back in the early 2000s) that was near-magical in the feel it put onto the skin. It literally made the skin feel like silk. When we were in deep product training I was dumbfounded, young, and naive I suppose, when I asked the trainer, “how long do people need to use this before they see lasting results without it?” He laughed and said, “Oh honey, it only works when they use it, that is why it says “reduces the appearance” it doesn’t fix anything it just covers it up by filling it in”.
I can only imagine the look on my face. Click the image below to read the full article on how to find and eliminate toxins from your home, skincare, cosmetics, and personal hygiene products.
Our RootsCo Tallow Skincare line is formulated with all-natural ingredients that have been used for hundreds if not thousands of years. Tallow is gentle on the skin and does not clog pores as many nuts or seed oils can.
Benefits of Tallow for the Skin:
- Tallow serves as a superfood for our skin giving our skin the essential fat-soluble vitamins it needs to restore and maintain balance
- Tallow contains the closest fatty acid profile to our own skin, the oils in our skin that allows for quick absorption
- Tallow is one of the oldest known products used in both cooking and skincare before today’s chemical packed water-based ingredients were added to the skincare we see sold today in drugstores and high-end department stores alike
- Tallow is a stable fat that does not need artificial preservatives to stay stable without going rancid or oxidizing
- Tallow contains essential fatty acids that help boost our microbial balance (this is key to having a healthy gut and according to the functional medicine doctors in my research, all disease starts in the gut)
Let us use the fact that our skin is our largest organ and that it drinks what we put on it to our advantage by applying clean healthy nontoxic ingredients such as grass-fed grass-finished tallow that even gives our skin advantages far beyond just being a nontoxic moister packed ingredient!
Top Benefits of Using Beef Tallow and Suet:
- Using Tallow Reduces Food waste – today thousands of pounds of perfectly good food go into the trash because it’s not cosmetically “pretty”, things such as organ meats the MOST healthy dense part of the animal are being trashed or used in dog food. We support the nose-to-tail approach of aiming to use the entire animal as they have for thousands of years.
- Beef Tallow and Suet are Allergen-Free – organic grass-fed grass-finished beef (again shop local, look at your local farmer’s markets or garden and farmers’ Facebook groups, and find someone local to support). Beef suet and tallow from clean sources do not have the risks of 90% of store-bought seeds and vegetable oils being from GMO sources (not good!).
- Suet and Tallow are Non-inflammatory with Very High Smoke Points – inflammation is at the core of every major disease today (search hormones at the top of the blog for more on how to heal your hormones or foods that cause hormonal or autoimmune issues). Industrially processed seed oils or vegetable oils have inflammation-causing properties. Canola oil, Sunflower oil, Soybean oil, peanut oil, and so on all use chemical solvents in the extraction process making them highly unstable that releasing oxidized cancer-causing free radicals when heated.
- Suet and Tallow Nutrient Dense healthy fat. Our brains thrive on healthy fats such as; grass-fed butter, olive oil, avocados, raw nuts, and seeds. Tallow is packed with vitamins A, D, E, K, AND B1 as well as fat-soluble vitamins that are easily absorbed into the body.
- Suet and Tallow are Energy Dense – at only 242 calories per oz they pack a high energy punch with no carbs. Great for all you looking to stay in ketosis or on the nose-to-tail carnivore diet. Popping a tablespoon in your morning coffee will not only help with cognitive alertness but it keeps you satiated for most of the morning! Note this is the same concept of grass-fed butter in making a bulletproof morning coffee
- Tallow is Easy to Make at Home – purchase grass-fed grass-finished beef fat (again my I say – shop local get to know your farmer, heck they might even give you the beef fat for FREE) place the suet in the crockpot on low for 8 hours with a cup or so of water and tablespoon of salt, the water and salt are optional but I find it renders the impurities out better. Use a double strainer method to separate the tallow from the crumbly fat, which is totally edible but we normally give this to our animals. Place your tallow in a bowl in the fridge to cool then separate the water (at the bottom of the bowl) from the tallow and bam just like that homemade tallow.
- Suet and Tallow are Great for Ketosis – again as a good clean fat with no carbs this gives our bodies tons of energy without the glucose spikes, feeds our brains, and gives us lots of nutrients. Tallow packs quite the punch with it comes to benefits.
- Suet and Tallow Promote Healthy Guts. Our guts microbiome feeds off healthy balances. Clean unprocessed oils/fats are what it needs to thrive
- Tallow is high in Omega 3’s which is an excellent source of cancer-fighting CLA’s (conjugated linoleic acid) and heart-friendly Omega 3 fatty acids
- Tallow is Full of Steric Acid – saturated fat stearic acid like those found in beef tallow lowers LDL (bad) cholesterol slightly and promotes the feeling of being full or satiated so we don’t overeat. Stearic acid is also amazing for our skin because of its ability to nourish our skin’s cell membranes. Keeping our skin smooth and moisturized naturally
- Suet and Tallow Have a Long Shelf Life – freeze your tallow or suet or keep it in the fridge and it can last for years! At a stable room temperature (meaning not warm enough to melt the tallow) it will last for up to a year. IMPORTANT NOTE: know your source. Most tallow you can get a health food stores such as whole foods has been hydrogenated – meaning they want it to last 2-3 years without refrigeration so they chemically change it – NOT COOL and not what you want. In this case, it’s better to just go with a good quality olive oil or avocado oil.
- Suet and Tallow is a Great Value – again, not to sound like a broken record here but GET TO KNOW your local farmers! A) shopping local supports your community and B) farmers and gardeners are for the most part so friendly and willing to be generous with what they have. As an example one of our favorite local beef farmers (in case you are local to Oklahoma)….
Weathers Farm is who we went with after spending about an hour on the phone with Jimmy Weathers asking him just about everything that I could think about as far as grass-fed, grass-finished regenerative farming.
Honestly, I did not need a lot of questions lined up, once I asked a couple of educated questions he could tell I was not the “average” customer and that I wanted details, details, details. Being a man who loves his trade he was sharing all kinds of facts down to buying a special black salt mined in Colorado for his cattle.
When we received our quarter cow he dropped it off at our house and let me know that the cow we got was one of his favorites. That he would call him over to him and even let him scratch the cow on the back of the ear.
Jimmy said, “I loved that guy and he never had a bad day in his life, that I am sure of.” Down, to the means the cows are harvested he cares as much as I do about his animals being treated more than humans.
Jimmy knows that just as important to me as buying 100% quality meat is how the animals are treated. I could tell over the phone that he loves his cows and that my friend is worth its weight in gold as far as the quality of meat you will be receiving.
He also threw in the heart and liver and kidneys knowing we are all about that organ meat life and soup bones for making bone broth free! That is 24 pounds of meat he gave us for free, why?
Because I took the time to get to know him. To share with him what is important to us, and let him know we support local farmers doing it right.
Conclusion
Grass-Fed Grass-Finished Tallow is packed with vitamins and nutrients our bodies need. Using tallow on our skin is one of the age-old secrets that has been used for thousands of years in even the earliest Nontoxic Skincare.
Tallow and suet are often a wasted part of the cow, so using it in the kitchen, candle making, or making your own skincare is a no-waste, nose-to-tail way to do what our ancestors have done for years.
Before scientific studies proved the amazing benefits of Grass-Fed Grass-Finished Beef fat (suet) it was one of the most prized parts of the harvest.
Let me know in the comments below if you have any questions. And be sure to check out our very own triple rendered 100% grass-fed grass-finished handcrafted line of tallow beauty and skincare RootsCo (in the menu at the top of the page) before you go.
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