Rendering Suet
I recently picked up some suet from TyLlywd Farm in Riverhead, NY to render down into tallow. Reach out to your nearest cattle or dairy farmer to get some for yourself or perhaps your local butcher. Suet is the fat that surrounds that organs of a cow.
There are many health benefits to beef tallow: it is non-inflammatory, rich in vitamins A, D, E, K, and B1, packed with minerals such as selenium and choline, contains healthy unrefined saturated fats and stimulates glucagon (the hormone that tells our body it is time to burn stored fat). I also make a 50/50 tallow and olive oil balm that is great on my skin and my baby’s bottom. You’ll find a ton of great uses for this vitamin rich animal product.
I find that most people know the ‘dangers’ of the commonly used seed oil (canola, sunflower, soybean, peanut) yet still keep it in their kitchen for convenience, mostly because of the high smoke point. Beef tallow is a wonderful alternative with the ability to be heated to nearly 420 degrees Fahrenheit, 200 degrees celsius. It is an easy to make, nutrient dense substitute for the industrialized oils that are in almost everything. Tallow is a great place to start reclaiming your health instead of leaving it in the hands of an industry built to make you sick.
You can render suet in a multitude of ways, stove top, crockpot, in the oven. I typically use the stove top, however this time I threw it in my crockpot and got great results. Time depends on how finely you break up the suet, my last batch took about 6 hours because I kept the suet quite large. Finer pieces will render down quicker.
Suet
You’ll want to chop up the pieces of suet and keep your burner or crockpot on low heat, stirring occasionally. If you are using your oven it should be around 225 degrees Fahrenheit
It will take several hours for your suet to render down, patience is a virtue!
By the end you will have a beautiful liquid gold along with some debris known as cracklings, you’ll want to use a strainer or a cheese cloth to get all the liquid possible
If kept in an airtight jar your tallow should retain shelf life for about a year. I prefer to freeze my excess and refrigerate what I’ll use immediately to prolong its life.
Simple as that! Reach out if you have any questions or need assistance sourcing good suet.
Tallow (rendered suet)