Karina Jones is a real-life ranch wife in the Nebraska Sandhills and one of the most highly sought-after speakers in the cattle industry nationwide!
Waste not, want not! Let’s celebrate a highly underrated beef by-product today on Ranch Raised.
Today, July 13 is National Beef Tallow Day! It may seem so minuscule compared to a Tomahawk Ribeye or an elegant filet, but let me tell you, as cattle producers, we celebrate every ounce of product a cow produces from the tip of their nose to the end of their tail.
Beef tallow is a rendered form of beef. Most of the time, it is cooked down from any cut of cow meat; other times, it is fat skimmed from the meat and melted down. Tallow remains soft and pliable at room temperature and can be used instead of butter or oil. It even has a high smoke point, making it a great option for deep-frying and cooking that requires high heat. Tallow is used to make candles and soaps, even though its safest use is as a cooking fat.
Though beef tallow is not a very common ingredient today, it has historically been used for several purposes. Tallow has been an ingredient in soap for several millennia, starting from Ancient Rome and Egypt and into the Industrial Revolution. Animal fats like tallow have been used for medicinal purposes in several civilizations over the years. Tallow has also been a common ingredient in beauty products like pomade up until the 20th century.
Tallow has been a part of food preparation in several cultures. Today, however, tallow is most often used only by chefs looking to make a statement with their creations. Beef Tallow Day was first established by the Healthy Fats Coalition in 2017.
If you have your beef custom processing request the fat trimmings so that you can render the tallow and use make your pie crusts and fry your French fries!
Karina ranches with her husband, Marty, and 4 children near Broken Bow, NE. She grew up in western NE, with roots also in southwest SD. The cattle industry and raising kids is her passion.
Watching the cattle industry go the path that it has gone, she could no longer sit quietly at home checking cows, fixing fence, and doing all the everyday tasks wondering when some else was going to make it all better. As she became more active and outspoken on industry issues, she was asked to join the R-CALF USA staff in September 2020 as the Checkoff Petition Campaign manager. That position transcended into her current role as full time Field Director for R-CALF USA.
You can hear her almost every Friday on Your Ag Network’s Hot Barn Report, where she deep dives into cattle industry issues and industry reforms. Listen to Ranch Raised on a Your Ag Network hometown station or www.youragnetwork.com where she talks about her daily life on the Jones Ranch.
Cattle producers are her people. She will meet you at the county fair, at the sale barn, or anywhere the dusty trail leads.
karina@youragnetwork.com or visit facebook.com/ranchraisedwithkarinajones
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