Headwaters Homestead

“Your skin looks so healthy, what is your secret?! It’s beef fat!”

Beef tallow is a rendered form of fat (also called suet or leaf fat) made with the fat surrounding the animals organs. When rendered properly, it actually has no beefy smell! Tallow is very versatile and has many practical uses including cooking, household applications and skin care. Today, we are going to focus on skin care. More specifically, tallow balm.

As new homesteaders, Todd and I are constantly learning as we grow. Getting back to our roots also meant learning about nose to tail practices when it comes to animals. Luckily, our neighbor raises beef cattle and we’ve been blessed to purchase a half cow from him for the past two years. We want nothing to go to waste, so we started looking at alternative uses for those obscure pieces and parts. When I read about the awesome benefits of using tallow for skin care, I knew we had to give it a try.

• Tallow is deeply nourishing and moisturizing
• Contains Vitamins A, D, K, & E, & B12, all of which are extremely beneficial for skin
• Also helps to prevent skin’s loss of moisture
• Contains conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) with natural anti-inflammatory properties
• Has all of these nutrients that are found together only in animal products
• Contains oleic acid (omega 9) aids other components in penetrating deeply into skin
• Is antibacterial & antimicrobial
• Contains palmitic acid which helps improve the protective barrier function of skin
• Is rich in minerals
• Contains stearic acid which helps to repair damaged skin, and improves skin’s flexibility and suppleness
• Aids in skin regeneration for skin that appears healthier and more youthful
• Contains palmitoleic acid (omega 7) which is one of our skin’s basic building blocks https://bumblebeeapothecary.com/

Tallow can be used for frying and sautéing food, seasoning cast iron, conditioning wooden utensils and cutting boards, hair care, soap and candle making, leather conditioning and waterproofing. It’s no wonder tallow is considered the homesteaders essential fat.

So lets get to it!

What you’ll need:

100% grass fed beef suet
(You can call your local butcher and ask for it. Be sure to specify suet or leaf fat…ask me how I know! In our area it runs about .99/lb)

You’ll need 1 cup of the rendered tallow for this recipe

1/4 cup olive oil- organic, cold pressed is best

48 drops- essential oils of choice (for a 1% dilution)
I get ours on Amazon here—–> https://a.co/d/9qhNxz9

Crock pot and hand/stand mixer for whipping

Directions:

To render- cut suet into small pieces (you could ask your butcher to grind it). Place in crock pot on low heat and let it melt for a few hours. It will start to look like the picture above.

When the suet turns from white to a yellowish color, it is rendered. Using a slotted spoon, carefully remove the larger bits from the crockpot and into a small strainer over a bowl, pressing down to drain all the tallow you can from it. Strain again through cheesecloth to remove smaller bits. The end product is melted tallow.

Lets make the balm!

1. Pour one cup melted tallow into a bowl
2. Add olive oil and stir to combine.
3. Add essential oils and stir again.
4. For solid tallow balm, pour balm into glass jar. Allow to harden in the refrigerator. When solid, let balm come to room temperature before using.
5. For whipped tallow balm, pour liquid balm mixture into a large mixing bowl. Allow to solidify at room temperature. When solid, whip with a hand or stand mixer until light and fluffy. Store in a glass jar.
6. Store both forms of tallow balm at room temperature.

Store unscented, pure tallow in a glass jar for future use. We made a few varieties, including lemongrass, lavender and orange and used small jelly canning jars with thrifted fabric to give them some flare!

Drop us a line if you have any questions or to share what you’re up to. Thank you for being here. We can’t wait to watch you grow! 🌻