Beef Tallow: A Complete Guide to Its Benefits, Uses, & More

November 1, 2024
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Beef tallow isn’t a new ingredient in the culinary world. In fact, people have been using tallow for centuries. And now that its popularity is beginning to heighten in food trends and restaurants, it’s an ingredient that every cooking oil business should consider selling wholesale. The best part? It doesn’t even require hefty and expensive types of restaurant equipment to produce. So, it is a super lucrative product offering that requires very minimal effort and resources. What more could you ask for? 

To learn everything you need to know about beef tallow, this guide will serve you well. From its benefits and uses to how to sell it online, we’re about to cover it all. Read on!

Beef Tallow: Definition, Benefits, and Uses

If the modern health and wellness community has been vocal about one thing in recent years, it’s that a non-toxic diet contains no seed oils. In fact, seed oils shouldn’t be part of someone’s lifestyle at all, let alone in their food and beverages. 

So what can people use as a cooking fat to create healthy meals? Well, for thousands of years, beef tallow has been the ultimate non-toxic alternative to other cooking oils. But what is it? And what are its benefits and uses? 

Read on to find out everything you need to know about beef tallow!

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What Is Beef Tallow?

Beef tallow is simply just the rendered fat of cattle. It initially starts out as something called suet, which is the fat content taken from around the kidneys and other internal organs. Cooking the suet is what turns it into tallow. 

Several Beef Tallow Benefits

Due to the overabundance of health benefits of beef tallow, it’s one of the most high demand products in the cooking space. After all, there’s a reason why so many food distribution entities are beginning to sell it to the masses. So, read on to learn why beef tallow is such a fantastic replacement to seed oils and various types of vegetable oils:

  • Beef tallow is highly bioavailable, so the body is able to quickly absorb its nutritional contents. 
  • A serving beef tallow contains a healthy dose of vitamins A, D, E, and K. 
  • Beef tallow is suitable for those who don’t enjoy using butter. 
  • All wholesale meat distributors end up with suet, so creating tallow will result in less waste when preparing various cuts of meat. 
  • Fully rendered beef tallow has no scent or flavor, so it doesn't interfere with other ingredients. 
  • Many butcher shops sell beef tallow, so there’s a chance that you can buy it locally.

Popular Beef Tallow Uses

For thousands of years, people have been using beef tallow for a number of different reasons. That’s why so many wholesale cooking oil distributors are beginning to sell it in bulk. From cooking with tallow to using beef tallow for skin health, it’s quite a versatile ingredient. See below for a few of the most common uses of beef tallow:

  • Beef tallow functions as the best cooking fat when frying food. 
  • When baking breads and sweet treats, any pastry chef or baker can tell you that beef tallow helps to create a light and flaky consistency. 
  • As a topical product, beef tallow works as an excellent moisturizer with tried and true healing properties.

Beef Tallow: The Ultimate Non-Toxic Ingredient

It’s safe to say that every cooking oil business should keep an eye out for the increased demand for beef tallow. It certainly has the benefits and versatility of all of its competitors. However, the health benefits of beef tallow are truly unmatched.

How Long Does Beef Tallow Last?

Beef tallow has an insanely lengthy shelf life. Sure, it might not be as long as something like honey or vinegar, but you can keep the same jar in proper storage for quite a long time. That’s one of the many reasons why so many restaurant industry professionals love it. Learn all about its long shelf life and storage tips below.

How Long Does Beef Tallow Last In Storage?

When kept in a cool and dry place, beef tallow can have a shelf life of roughly one year. It’s important to keep beef tallow in airtight containers, away from direct sunlight and moisture. Under such conditions, the issue of food spoilage is much more likely to occur. If you have an excess amount of beef tallow that you won’t use up in a year, it can remain in the freezer for much longer.

4 Tips for Storing Beef Tallow

To make beef tallow last for as long as humanly possible, there are some precautions you need to take. Consider using the following tips as a checklist when storing jars of beef tallow:

  1. Properly add labels to each jar upon packing it with an expiration date.
  2. Refrigerate the jar you’re currently using and freeze everything else.
  3. Keep the beef tallow in a cool and dry place if not in a fridge or freezer.
  4. Only use airtight containers, such as mason jars, to store beef tallow.

Storage Tips for Lasting Products

Once you take proper precautions when packaging and storing beef tallow, the more of a definitive answer you’ll have when assigning expiration dates. And whether you’re doing so for yourself or customers, it's vital for health, safety, and quality standards.

Beef Tallow vs. Lard, Oil, Ghee and More

Beef tallow falls within the category of cooking fats and oils. Therefore, it falls under the same umbrella as products like lard, butter, and ghee. While an executive chef might be able to distinguish the difference between all of them right off the bat, the average consumer may not. By the time you’re done reading this section, you’ll know all the key distinctions between the different ingredients.

Beef Tallow vs. Lard

You’ll quickly realize that the classification of meat is solely what dictates the difference between beef tallow and similar ingredients. And when it comes to tallow vs. lard, that’s the key differentiator. While tallow comes from beef, lard comes from pork.

Suet vs. Beef Tallow

It’s not uncommon to find somebody mistaking beef tallow for suet and vice versa. But here’s the thing–you cannot have tallow without suet. That’s just because tallow is the end result of cooking suet for a long stretch of time. The main differences between the two is the texture, flavor and scent. Tallow is smooth with zero scent or flavor. Meanwhile, suet is tough with a strong beefy scent and flavor profile.

Ghee vs. Beef Tallow

While ghee is a close runner-up to beef tallow when it comes to its lack of toxicity, they share a distinct quality. You see, ghee is closer to butter than it is to tallow. It’s simply the result of simmering butter and removing any milk or water contents. That’s it.

Beef Tallow vs Butter

The main difference between beef tallow and butter is that tallow comes from the meaty part of cattle, while butter comes from the process of churning cream. As a result, you’re left with a product that contains milk and water, unlike tallow.

Beef Tallow vs. Olive Oil and Avocado Oil

When you begin researching healthy oils to cook with, you’ll find that the two closest contenders next to beef tallow are olive oil and avocado oil. So what sets them all apart, aside from their origins? It's mostly the smoke point, while beef tallow and olive oil have a smoke point of about 400°, avocado oil has a smoke point of up to 500°.

Let’s Settle the Debate Between Beef Tallow and Other Oils

Now that you know the key distinctions between all the different types of cooking oil, you can stock up on what’s most suitable for each of your recipes. Once you’re capable of distinguishing the difference in the final products, you’ll never go back to the not-so-healthy ingredients, like canola, grapeseed, and sunflower seed oil, among many others.

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How to Make Beef Tallow and Sell It Online

Believe it or not, the process of making beef tallow is super simple. If you’re looking to become a business owner in the culinary world, selling beef tallow online after making it from your home kitchen is a very real possibility. After all, a quick search on Google or Etsy will show you that numerous people are already doing it!

In this section, we’ll outline how to make beef tallow from scratch. Then, we’ll discuss a few ways you can sell it online.

What You Need to Make Beef Tallow From Scratch 

Before you can start making beef tallow from scratch, there are several things you need to have in your possession. These items include the following:

  • Beef suet
  • A sharp knife
  • A large pot or slow cooker 
  • A strainer or cheesecloth 
  • Airtight glass containers 
  • Labels and a pen

Once you have access to all these items, you can begin making beef tallow. Keep reading to learn how to do it. 

How to Make Beef Tallow From Scratch In Just 5 Steps 

Are you ready to start preparing beef tallow from scratch? Give it a try! It’s super easy and will yield great results. Simply follow these steps:

  1. Set aside all the necessary materials from the list above. 
  2. With the shark knife, cut the beef into small chunks so that it cooks or “renders” evenly. 
  3. Once all the suet is cut up, add it to your pot or slow cooker and let it cook for a few hours, stirring occasionally. 
  4. Strain the beef tallow with a cheesecloth or a strainer that one would use for different types of pasta. You want to make sure that it’s completely smooth and free of any bits and pieces of solid suet. 
  5. Once the beef tallow cools, transfer it to glass airtight containers. You can purchase these from wholesale packaging suppliers. 

How to Sell Beef Tallow Online 

Now that you know how to make beef tallow, it’s time to get into an entrepreneur mindset and start making some money! Some of the easiest strategies will include the following:

  • Create a website with a digital storefront. 
  • Leverage an exclusive digital marketplace.
  • Sell bulk quantities to brick and mortar retailers. 
  • Distribute products to places like cash and carry centers. 

Sometimes, just one sales channel can be sufficient for a lucrative business. Consider your brand’s popularity and the product’s demand. Then, weigh your options.

Make and Sell Beef Tallow for Optimal Profits 

There are numerous ways to adapt and market plain beef tallow as well as tallow-based products. By making such products from scratch, you have full control over the ingredients and quality. As a result, selling wholesale tallow online can lead to booming profits.

Why You Should Start Cooking With Beef Tallow

All types of chefs should become familiar with beef tallow. Cooking with beef tallow can not only enhance the texture of food, but the flavor as well. Oh, and let’s not forget how it drastically improves the nutritional quality of various dishes. 

In this section, we’re going to discuss why cooking with beef tallow is a must. Continue reading to learn all about it!

Why You Should Cook With Beef Tallow

Other types of cooking fats, such as vegetable oils, are extremely bad for our health. But what is it about beef tallow that makes it so much better? Find out below:

  1. Beef tallow has a high smoke point of around 400° F, which prevents the oil from turning toxic or rancid when exposed to high temperatures. 
  2. Beef tallow is completely organic, especially when it comes from grass-fed cattle that aren’t exposed to endocrine disruptors or antibiotics. 
  3. Beef tallow contains a balance between saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fatty acids, which is ideal for optimal health. 
  4. When you cook savory food items with beef tallow as the fat source, it adds to the crispiness of the final product. 
  5. For those who have an allergy or intolerance to dairy, beef tallow can serve as a more inclusive alternative to items like butter, which comes from milk. 
  6. The production of beef tallow resonates with the mission of sustainable restaurants, especially since putting the suet to use cuts down on food waste
  7. When stored properly, beef tallow can have an extremely long shelf life.

Clean Dining Begins When You Cook With Beef Tallow

Replacing toxic cooking oils with beef tallow will improve your recipes entirely. Seriously, they’ll taste more delicious and be better for your overall well-being. Now, check out the final section below to discover where you can buy it wholesale.

Where to Buy Beef Tallow Wholesale

Okay, so now you’re fully aware of the many reasons why you need to start using beef tallow. But where can you get it? From which wholesale distribution channels sell it in bulk?

In this final section, we’re going to discuss how and where you can begin purchasing non-toxic ingredients. By leveraging one or more of these sales outlets, you or your brand will be much closer to serving healthy, anti-inflammatory recipes. 

Read on!

Wholesale Channels That Supply Beef Tallow

Many businesses that sell wholesale meat products supply tallow. Learn about some vendor types that might sell wholesale beef tallow:

  • Local Butcher Shops: To eliminate the amount of food waste that butcher shops incur, they’ll sell everything. And when they prepare beef, tallow is part of the leftover scraps. 
  • Wholesale Meat Suppliers: Similar to butcher shops, meat suppliers often end up with products like tallow on hand. If not, they often have suet, which can then be turned into tallow. 
  • eCommerce Stores: Many people operate at-home businesses that sell beef tallow due to how easy it is to make. These small businesses sell most of their inventory online. 
  • Broadline Distribution Companies: The sole purpose of a broadline distribution company is to sell a bit of everything. Therefore, many product catalogs feature beef tallow for sale through the company’s meat department.

Now You Know Where to Buy Beef Tallow

Whether you’re trying to serve “cleaner” menu options or simply live a healthier lifestyle, the implementation of beef tallow is a must. Now that you know where you might be able to find wholesale beef tallow, you can start shopping for it.

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