Why Tallow is Making a Comeback
By: Emma Rauschert
Whipped tallow has recently made a comeback as an ingredient in natural skincare. For decades, people have searched for products that make their skin less wrinkly or more moisturized and pay big bucks to get a promising product. But what people have overlooked is what our ancestors used for generations: animal fat. When people butchered their home-raised animals for meat, they used the entire animal, including the fat. The fat from cows and pigs left over after butchering was rendered to make lotions and soaps.
Rendering is the process of heating the raw fat, which frees the oils from the tissues. The result is a pure, scentless oil that will harden at room temperature. Rendering beef fat is simple. You can purchase (or obtain from local cows) finely chopped suet (raw beef fat) and place it in a crockpot on low. Your tallow is done when the tissues start to separate from the liquid. Strain the cracklings out and pour the pure liquid into a glass jar. Tallow can be used to make candles, skincare products, season cast iron pans, or even as a frying oil— McDonald's used tallow to fry their french fries until the 1990s. Tallow has become a staple on the homestead, especially when used in homemade body butter!
Tallow makes an excellent base for skin care products because of its rich vitamins that are easily absorbed by human skin. The vitamins in tallow are naturally occurring and not made synthetically, so they are more bioavailable to your skin. It sounds weird to rub beef fat all over your skin, but once you do, you won't go back! Tallow has been known to improve acne, redness, eczema, wrinkles, age spots, scars, burns, cuts, rosacea, or dry skin. Try it out for yourself!
Whipped Tallow Balm Recipe:
½ cup of tallow
2 Tbsp of an oil of your choice (e.g., extra virgin olive oil, almond oil, or argan oil). You want an oil that is liquid and will not harden when exposed to cold temperatures.
10 drops of essential oil- lavender, orange, rosemary, etc.
Melt the tallow on very low heat in a saucepan or double boiler.
Turn off the heat and pour the melted tallow into a glass bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and let it cool, but not long enough so that it hardens.
Use a hand mixer and whip it up. It can take a minute to get the nice fluffy consistency. You want to get a lot of air into the mixture.
Store in an 8-oz glass jar in a cool, dark place. This balm should last up to a year.
I admit I am lazy and buy my own tallow when making whipped tallow balm. But the end result is the same: a smooth, healing balm. During these cold winter days, my hands get quite dry and scratchy. I apply the whipped tallow balm on my hands right before going to sleep. When I wake up, my hands are soft and refreshed, and I am ready to take on any homestead project.