If you have a seatbelt, strap yourself in. Are you good? Seated well?
OK. It’s called “Tallow”.
It’s rendered beef fat.
Yep. Rendered meaning melted down. Beef fat meaning, well, beef fat. There is nothing glorifying about it, until you use it.
Last year we had a friend give us all of their frozen beef fat after they had processed a whole beef for themselves. It was so nicely packaged and I had this great plan to make soap. I had never thought of keeping the excess fat previously and yes, the idea of making soap sounded fun. I love the idea of putting it all to good use. The bones from the beef we butcher go to the freezer for making bone broth and any that we don’t use go to the dogs. Unfortunately, the soap idea died quickly once I started looking up all of the ingredients. I lost interest as the ingredients sounded complicated and it was a bit labor intensive. Maybe one day I’ll try it, but for now…lets keep it simple.
My freezer was now full of fat that was not justifying its purpose. My husband suggested tossing it, but I couldn’t. I figured I could surely make SOMETHING. I had heard of people melting it down and using it for cooking oil as it has a wealth of benefits to it…especially from a home grown beef steer that was out on beautiful pasture. I even contemplated making candles.
Sure enough, I found a recipe for ‘body butter’. It sounded interesting. There were recipes that included other ingredients such as beeswax, coconut oil, olive oil, and a myriad of other acceptable skin cures. However, I found one article that kept it simple. It seemed that this ‘tallow’ had plenty of goodness on its own, why mess it up?
Once I unloaded the freezer of one giant package of fat, I let it sit in the refrigerator overnight in order to thaw. The next evening I opened up it up and cut it up into pieces. I did my best to cut off anything that resembled remnants of meat.
Into the crockpot it went and I added about 1/4 cup of water to keep it from burning on the bottom. I started the crockpot on low and once I started to see liquid at the bottom, I went and ahead and turned the dial to high. (I quickly learned that this is best done in a well ventilated garage, or back porch, as it is not a smell that you want to sleep in).
Depending on how much you have in the crockpot will depend on your cooking time. Mine was about 24 hours to a mostly liquid state with a bunch of crispy cooked fat pieces on top. Next up, you pour this mess into a cheese cloth over a strainer which is over a bowl. The idea is to have pure and clean drippings.
At this point you will be looking at a yellowish colored liquid that has a very unique and not exactly pleasant smell. What you do from here is up to you. You now have rendered beef fat which is called tallow. You can make candles, you can get complicated and make soap, or you can try what I did.
My first recipe I added about a cup of cold pressed olive oil to the mixture (because it sounded good and I happen to have it on hand) as well as lavender oil. Lavender has a wealth of good characteristics from being an anti inflammatory to an anti fungal and being mostly safe for all ages if used in appropriate amounts. Considering I have Littles who have sensitive skin, I wanted to be able to use this on them as well. I added about 15-20 drops per mason jar. The idea is not to completely mask the scent of the tallow, but simply to give it an extra scent with a benefit. Prior to adding the mixture to the mason jars, I waited for it to cool to a ‘warm’ temp. Essential oils can be ineffective when brought to high heats and so it is important to let the oil cool (and much safer to work with).
Once the oil was evenly distributed amongst my jars, I placed the lids on and set them inside the refrigerator. The wonderful thing about tallow is that it does not need to be refrigerated if it is properly sealed and kept at room temperature. It can last months at room temp and even longer in the refrigerator. The colder it gets, the more solid it gets so its up to you where you want to store it. I find it easier to work with if its kept in my bathroom drawer. You will find the mild odor of the tallow seems to ‘go away’ when you apply it to skin. Over time, the scent seems to dissipate from the jar too.
Here is what the final product will look like:
With further attempts I got more and more brave at experimenting with essential oils, as well as leaving some simply for cooking with. I ended up omitting the olive oil from my recipe and just utilizing the straight tallow and essential oils. I felt the olive oil gave it a slightly more ‘oily’ effect where as the straight tallow absorbs right in. There is no need to use a lot. A simple dime size will go a long way.
Why is it my beauty secret? Because I use it for everything!
- I use this as a night cream on my face
- I use it on sunburns and diaper rash
- I use it as a day moisturizer for dry spots
- I use it on any blemish or cut
- I use it as a leave-in conditioner on my hair (Apply to dry hair, leave on for however long you want and rinse or wash out with a mild shampoo.)
I have started handing it out to close friends to try, as well as family. My mom keeps hers on hand mainly for an intense moisturizer and my work buddy uses hers for everything. I asked her to describe it and here is what she shared:
“It is very soothing on a sunburn or dry skin. I like it because it doesn’t feel thick when applied and it absorbs quickly. I’ve spent high dollar on good skin cream and washed my face the next morning and it felt like I was washing off the lotion I applied the night before because it didn’t soak in. Also, It makes my skin feel so soft. My skin feels very healthy when I use it. It also helps sores heal.”
Now go ahead, get brave, and try it!