Tell Me About Tallow: How to Use Beef Tallow for More than Just Cooking

US Wellness Meats raises animals in a way that respects the land and the animals, which is why they use as much of the animal as possible. Sustainable farming methods are employed to enhance the connection between solar energy, soil microbes, vibrant plants, and happy, grazing animals. This cycle allows them to raise some of the most nutrient rich food available.

Every possible portion is used. Beef fats are rendered into a creamy white batch of beautiful beef tallow. Tallow is the hard and fatty substance made from the rendered (melted down) fat from beef, mutton or pork. Although it is most commonly used in the kitchen for cooking, there are multiple ways to use beef tallow, some which may surprise you.

Beef Tallow for Cooking

Let’s start off with the most obvious use for beef tallow, cooking. Beef tallow can be used in all types of cooking methods, but is most often used in high-temperature cooking like frying. However, you can also use beef tallow in baking or to coat your raw vegetables before roasting in the oven for an added touch of rich flavor. It’s important to note that it is crucial to consider the source of your beef tallow. If any antibiotics or drugs are used on the animal, those unwanted elements end up in the animal’s body fat. If you then use the animal’s fat for cooking, you are subsequently ingesting these as well. (Yuck!) Be sure you find a trusted source for your beef tallow needs. US Wellness Meats maintains strict sustainable farming methods and all of their beef is 100% grass-fed and grass-finished with no added hormones, no antibiotics, drugs, pesticides, or herbicides. USWM beef tallow is packed full of nourishing nutrients like Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA’s) and natural trans-fats.

Beef Tallow for Soap

Just like in cooking, it is important to consider the source of your beef tallow when used for skincare. Since the skin is our largest organ, it soaks up everything we put on it. Synthetic topics and chemicals get absorbed through the skin and eventually make their way through our bloodstream where they are processed by the liver. (Yikes!) Many soaps and body washes are chemical laden, filled with harsh fragrances and are water based, which can leave your skin feeling dry, dehydrated and stripped of its natural, delicate oils. If you are interested in using beef fat to make homemade soap bars, here is an easy recipe for making beef tallow soap. Don’t forget to share your homemade creations with family members, friends and neighbors. They make for great little gifts!

Beef Tallow for Skin Care

This one may surprise you, but beef tallow can be used for skin care. This may sound shocking and completely contradictory to what we have been taught about skincare, but tallow closely matches the fatty acid profile of skin cells. (Crazy, right?) By adding tallow to your skincare routine, you are ultimately keeping skin cells hydrated. Beef tallow is also chocked full of CLA’s, which are anti-inflammatory to your system and antimicrobial. If you are interested in ditching your synthetic skincare for all natural, non-toxic tallow-based beauty products, you can make your own at home, but if you prefer to online shop instead, check out natural and organic skincare companies like Amara Marie, and Balm of Gilead, who proudly use USWM tallow for all of their tallow-based beauty products.

Beef Tallow for Laundry Detergent

Besides using beef tallow to wash your skin, you can also use beef tallow to wash your clothes. Gentle yet effective, beef tallow laundry detergent can easily be made at home with a few ingredients. Here is an easy recipe with all of the steps to making a homemade beef tallow laundry detergent.

Beef Tallow for Candle Making

Tallow candles are easy and quick to make. Simply purchase your choice of beef tallow, melt it down and allow it to cool for a few minutes, but be sure the tallow does not harden completely. Once melted, and cooled, place the beef tallow into a glass mason jar while holding a candle wick in the center of the jar. To keep the candle wick in place while the beef tallow hardens, lay a pencil on either side of the glass mason jar then firmly tape the pencil in place until the candle wick is standing in the middle of the mason jar all on its own. Here is an easy recipe to make tallow-based emergency candles.  If you prefer to make beeswax candles you can cut the cost of beeswax by using 50% beef tallow in your beeswax candles.

As you can see, beef tallow can be used for more than just cooking. From soap to skincare beef tallow has more than one purpose.  How do you re-purpose your beef tallow? Tag USWM on Instagram at @uswellnessmeats so we can see how you use beef tallow for more than just cooking!

Meet The Author:

Ashley Martens is a Health and Wellness Writer based in Chicago, IL. With a background in digital marketing coupled with her knowledge of general nutrition and a lifelong passion for all things health, wellness, fitness and nutrition, Ashley offers a healthy alternative to traditional writing. You can learn more about Ashley and her writing over at her blog, Three to Five a Day.