storing raw fat

[nicole]

I got some raw fat on friday and have been eating it over the weekend. It developed a couple of greenish spots today and the pieces smell strong of plants. What is the best way to store it? I have been storing it on a glass cassarole dish.

[Raw Kyle]

In the fridge in a dry container with as little air as possible.

[nicole]

How many days does that way usually last for you? Should I trim off any extra meat from it?

[Raw Kyle]

Usually the fat I get has no lean meat on it in the first place. Do you mean steaks with fat around the edge? The lean meat will have some water in it and a pool will develop at the bottom of the container and that would be good to avoid.

Fat does not seem to me to last very long in the fridge. I've been eating some rendered fat recently and a lot of marrow, and the marrow I eat in a day or two after defrosting so it's not an issue. It's been a while since I've had glass containers in the fridge of suet, but when I did I remember it starting to smell and taste rancid after sometimes as little as 4 days. Often there would be condensation on the lid of the container, I don't know why but it appears the fat was sweating. Maybe if I wiped off this liquid when I see it the fat would stay fresh longer.

The early rancidness isn't very bad though imo. For me it seems totally fresh for about 4 days, then slowly starts to get a smell and a taste. The smell is stronger than the taste, the taste change is slower and more subtle. I've eaten it maybe 1 1/2 weeks old when it was pretty strong smelling. Really the taste doesn't change very much, the taste of raw fat is usually very bland to me at all times, fresh or rancid. As you get more experience you may become more comfortable eating it more and more rancid. I don't think there are really any health concerns with it, I've never noticed anything after eating it slightly high and haven't read anything on the forum either.

How I dealt with it is only thaw out enough to last a few days. I would keep the bag in the freezer and smash off a block of it and put it in these nice glass containers I have. You can get them in different sizes and therefore put the amount of fat in you think will last you a certain length of time. Here's a picture of this style of container on amazon.com:

[Paleo Donk]

I've got this huge chunk of ground suet sitting on a rack on my fridge for two weeks now. Tastes the same as it did two weeks ago.

[nicole]

Thank you Kyle.  It is just pieces of trimmed fat I got from the local organic butcher for real cheap. They have occasionaly miniscule pieces of meat on them. after a couple of days they smelled a little like some sort of plant or vegetable. I ate some and felt fine. My steaks also turned brown and developed a different smell and taste. I just want my meat to be the most nutritious possible and to save for up to 5 days because I can't get to the meat shop any oftener than wednesday and friday. I'm afraid to eat prefrozen meat. I'm worried that it loses nutrition.
Thank you for your replies, I appreciate all the help I can get to be successful.

[Hans89]

It's too difficult to decide about the nutritional value IMHO. What is lost in nutrients could be made up by higher digestibility. I don't like prefrozen meats either, they have made me sick before, while non-frozen ones never have.

[michaelwh]

I keep suet in an open bowl, either in the fridge, or on the counter. I don't find it particularly tasty, and only eat it when the meat I'm eating is too lean. I've kept suet stored this way on the counter for a few months without it going rancid.

I think that keeping meat/fat in closed containers makes it spoil faster.

[nicole]

I think the problem I may have had is that I was storing both meat and fat in the same container. I will try some new ways of storing.
Michael: Do you have a pile of fat in the bowl or are the pieces layed out flat? Does the fat get dried out?
Thank you

[Neone]

I just throw all of my extra fat into a bucket when im processing animals, a mutton was the last one i had a bunch of extra suet-like fat, but some was hide fat and just random fats from all over the animal. its been in the bucket for oh, 8 or more weeks now?  its fine..  if you dont let the air get at  it (like, good airflow over the stuff), it might get a little fuzz on it or some green mold. Other than it getting a 'taste' its fine.

I guess its kind of funny how it works.. first you have to get over the 'yukkyness' of this diet, then your fear of parasites, and then your fear of mold.  why stop there? lets stop being afraid of everything haha.

[michaelwh]

Michael: Do you have a pile of fat in the bowl or are the pieces layed out flat? Does the fat get dried out?

I've done this with both a pile of ground suet, and a big chunk of whole suet. I suppose that eventually it will dry out, but suet has very little water in the first place, so it probably won't make a big difference in the taste/texture.

[tammy123]

If we talk about storing raw food that is meat or any other flesh we need to store it in very low temperature so that, you can keep that fresh for a long time as, in big barbecues there are lot of cold storage where it is kept but, it is very important to consume it as soon as possible.

Also, if we talk about raw veggies or fruits then it is better to keep them is fresh zip pouches and store them all in refrigerators.

Thanks

[TylerDurden]

I've eaten raw suet with a green fungus-like mold lots of times and it's fine/ The funny thing is I've left such out of the fridge for weeks and it didn't smell.  Perhaps it was already somewhat dehydrated.

[Stig of the Dump]

I have a big plate with lumps of grass fed lamb fat out in open, inside the fridge.  The meat (a leg of the same lamb) is out on another plate in the same fridge.  Some bits are probably a few weeks old now.

The fat tastes just fine, and I haven't really noticed any important changes to it over time.

[Hannibal]

In depends on the kind of suet. Some suets become smelly quite quickly; some others stay fresh for a long period of time.
When we've got a lot of suet it's very good to keep it in the freezer.