Tallow is a wide term.
It's also called beef dripping in UK and Ireland.
It's a technical term for melted beef fat. But this fat can come from any part of the cow's body, from commercially raised, grain-fed cattle or from pasture-raised, grass-fed cows.
And based on where the fat comes from, and how it's processed there are different classes of tallow.
So let's discover them.
You see, most tallow brands use either cooking tallow from the store or a commercially sourced, heavily refined tallow. Some try to melt their own at the beginning, but as they grow it becomes very hard to keep up. So they switch to commercial tallow.
This is where Ancestral Cosmetics stands as a market leader. We melt our tallow in-house from day one - and will continue to do so.
Here’s why.
- Suet (kidney fat)
- Brisket fat
- Trimmings of fat
- Pieces of meat, bones, glands…
All of these can go into tallow. But what goes in comes out.
Suet is the hard fat found around the kidneys and loins of cattle. It’s the purest fat part on the cow. Brisket fat is a larger piece of fat surrounding the brisket. It’s usually more yellow than suet and can be harder.
Trimmings come from all parts of the cow. These can be leftover pieces from around the steaks or the outer body of the cow. They come in various harnesses and are mostly cut with a piece of meat or bone attached to it.
When it comes to skincare you want to use suet - the cleanest part of the fat.
But there’s a problem: most butchers mix up the fat adding trimmings and leftovers that should go to trash. Especially at commercial scale the lines of fat types become very blurry.
These trimming and leftovers melted into tallow create the beefy smell we like on our burger, but not so much in our face cream.
At Ancestral Cosmetics we use only fresh suet from Irish grass-fed, pasture-raised cows.
But that’s not all…
We employ a full-time butcher who trims and cleans our suet to remove any leftover imperfections and impurities before we melt it into tallow.
This is a long and tedious process that only a few skilled people can do properly. It takes both time & serious skill to do this consistently and at scale. That’s why most brands opt for an easy road: buying tallow in bulk from commercial suppliers.
Since tallow became popular many butchers, farms and meat processors found a new, unexpected source of income. Beef tallow, a thing they would usually throw out (or even pay disposal companies to take away). Now they can melt it & make some money.
There’s nothing wrong with this! But is this commercially melted tallow the same as crafted, hand-trimmed and melted tallow, specifically made for skincare?
Of course not. It can’t even compare.
Commercially melted tallow is a mix of any & all parts of the cow’s fat. No one knows what goes inside. Pieces of meat, glands, bones, expired and improperly stored meat and fat, rotten cuts of meat…
Because of this many high-scale processors also use a mix of chemicals to control the:
- Colour
- Hardness
- Smell
They do this to maintain the consistency of their batches and to produce a final product that is somewhat presentable.
There are levels to any game & the game of Tallow is a more complex one than meets the eye. At Ancestral Cosmetics we’re leading the game of pure, grass-fed, pasture-raised tallow for skincare.
- Premium sourcing from traditional Irish farms that raise cattle using traditional practices, on Irish green pastures and never feed them grains or hormones. Only grass, dried or fermented grass forms a cow's diet.
- Skilled hand processing. From pure suet to the finest and cleanest tallow on the market, worthy of your face cream.
- Quality at every step. We employ a trained butcher who trims our fat, melts our tallow and ensures only the finest cuts make it to our products.
And while we support all tallow industry (any tallow product is miles better than a commercial alternative) it’s becoming more and more important to think about sourcing and processing of tallow that goes on your face.
If you want to support our work and try some of our world-class Irish beef tallow discover some of our best sellers below and experience the difference yourself.
