Beef and Lamb Fat COLOR

[JaX]

after conversations with some suppliers in my area, I've come to understand that the color of beef fat depends on 2 things: the beef breed and the diet of the animal.

There are some beef breeds that grow very fast and have more pinkish meat color and produce very little marbling; the fat from these will be white always, even if they are grassfed/finished. The fat will also be a bit tougher (possibly because it is more saturated).

Beef breeds that marble a lot of fat and have a dark red colored meat will generally, if grassfed, produce a clear yellow fat, and this goes for all fat on the beef except the suet.

Also the older a beef is, the more yellow the fat should be (considering it is 100% grassfed).
This is the reason why veal, even if organic and fed hay/grasses part of its life, will have mostly white fat. BUT keep in mind that the breeds used for veal/young calf meat are generally the fast growing breeds which will produce rather pink meat with little fat marbling and generally white fat, so the white fat color will remain even if it is above veal/young calf age (more than 1-2 years).

BEEF FAT COLOR
The major cause of yellow fat is the intake of the yellow carotenoid pigments, especially b-carotene, which can be metabolized to vitamin A, a vitamin essential to many body processes. Excess b-carotene is stored in fat, giving rise to a yellow-colored fat. Grass/forages are the major source of carotenoid pigments.

Lamb and goat on the other hand will not produce yellow fat anywhere because they metabolize the precursors to vitamin A in the grass differently and store it as a different metabolite than beefs do, which is not yellow pigmented but just white. (same reason why butter from grassfed cows is yellow, while butter/cheese from grassfed goatl/lamb will be white. The vitamin A is simply in another form):

Goat butter is white (compared to yellow butter from cow's milk) because the goats produce milk with the yellow beta-carotene converted to a colorless form of vitamin A.

http://siteground194.com/~hles/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10&Itemid=9
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goat#Milk.2C_butter_and_cheese


Tyler you mentioned that you only find white fat on the grassfed beef you buy, right? Maybe it has to do with the UK, where they mostly use the fast growing breeds as they are the most profitable and the beef population is a little low. Do you know the names of the beef breeds you buy?

[TylerDurden]

I usually only get white fat but sometimes I've managed to get hold of yellowish-white fat as well.(I usually only buy raw muscle-meats from wild animals, incidentally - though organs like marrow/suet etc. usually come from grassfed beef).
I'm sorry, I haven't a clue what breeds I buy my meat from as regards the breeds I buy. I may ask, in the next 2 weeks, when I do my next big shop.
Very interesting post, by the way and covers some info I hadn't found yet(except for the bit about the veal) - May I have your permission to post your above comments re beef-fat on my rawpaleodiet yahoo group?

[carnivore]

So a young beef (veal) or a beef breed that grow very fast doe not have enough time (before beeing slaughtered) to store excess b-caroten.

I have noticed that the fat of horse and donkey is always reddish. I wonder which nutrient gives this color.

[goodsamaritan]

In the wet markets I frequent, the cheaper beef in the Marikina wet market usually has white fat, and their bones are smaller, their bone marrow is the one I like, has the consistency of brains, mushy, wet.

In Farmer's Market in Cubao Quezon City, the beef there has dark red meat, no marbling, yellow fat and the darker the yellow the yummier, and the best have a greenish tinge. The bones of these beef are BIG and thick and the marrow, dry.  Though when I put the beef in my refrigerator, the longer it stays in the ref, the whiter the fat gets.

We don't get lamb in my area.

We get goats and there is hardly any fat in our goats.  Maybe it's the variety.  All goats are grass fed, they are even grass fed in the pens they stay in before slaughter.  This is why I prefer beef because I can get fat with beef. 

[JaX]

Goat is a very lean animal and doesn't store much fat (except around the kidneys). I've tried goat but have found it to be just like lamb in taste and with less fat. I stick with lamb.

goodsamaritan interesting about the bone marrow. I've also noticed that the consistency of bone marrow differs. I usually get dry beef bone marrow (though it melts in the mouth) but the lamb bone marrow I get is more wet and delicious, and I prefer it that way. Maybe the consistency of bone marrow in beef is also related to breed or other factors.

Tyler sure you can use my post if you want to put on the yahoo group.

[TylerDurden]

Thanks very much  for allowing me to use your post on the other group.

Re goat:- I'm surprised you think the taste of goat is the same as lamb. I find it totally different.Mind you, it's been said by farmers that goat tastes different if you cut off the testicles of the (male) goat well before slaughter(some US-based farmers even castrate wild boar long before hunting them). Somehow or other the testicles(and the hormones thereof) give the meat a gamey flavour, apparently(which I actually like/prefer!)

Re lamb/pork/ marrow:- I'm amazed you can get hold of marrow from animals other than cattle. Most farmers just tell me they don't bother extracting marrow except from cattle  as the marrow quantitity is just too small. The fools just throw the stuff away if not from cattle!

[Nicola]

Mushy, wet marrow is  ; it's from joung beef (small bones) or cow's (they are "used" to produce milk = money).


The best marrow comes from old, lean animals (beef). Lambs don't have much marrow. Horse marrow is very good but it can have quite a few bone splinters in it.

Nicola

[JaX]

I just get some lamb bones which contain marrow, cut in several pieces, and I scoop or suck the marrow out myself.