Shouldn't my grass-fed suet be yellowish?

[Raw Rob]

I have a ton of supposedly grass-fed suet, but it looks very white to me. I just melted some in a skillet to rub on my skin and the pan looks the same as it would if I cooked regular bacon in it. I'm thinking maybe I should find another source.

[Satya]

Here is a picture of unrendered suet (which is kidney fat) from a supplier who is definitely 100% grassfed for comparison.  I know these people really well.

http://www.rawpaleoforum.com/general-discussion/all-suet-is-white/msg10990/#msg10990

[lex_rooker]

Rob,
There is quite a controversy (probably started by me) about the color of tallow rendered from different sources.  I've rendered tallow many times and whether rendering suet, hide, or muscle fat it is my experience that it is always some shade of "clear" yellow like butter if it is from grass fed animals.  Depending on the time of year the color may be very very pale pastel yellow (almost white with a yellow cast) or it could be a deep rich yellow, but it has always been yellow.  This is for rendered fat. When it is liquid it is a golden amber color and then it hardens to some shade of yellow when it cools.

Fat that is from animals that were grain finished or where they've fed brewers solids as a supplement to grass, have always been more of a putty color.  Again varying from almost white to tanish brown or dark putty color.

If you take a look in my pemmican manual you'll see a bucket of tallow rendered from grass fed suet compared to a bucket of tallow rendered from suet and trimmings from my local butcher.  The deep yellow color of the grass fed tallow is from meat harvested in the early summer so the animals had been eating the rich spring grass.  It's not that dark yellow when from animals harvested in the early spring coming off winter where the grass is dry, of poor quality, and low in carotene.

Purchased commercial tallow and lard is often put through a chemical bleaching process to make it white.  This is not always done but most people think white is "pure" so the extra step in processing makes it more appealing to the average consumer.

Hope this helps,

Lex

[PaleoPhil]

Hardwick 100% grassfed beef fat has always been a very pale yellow so far. My market recently started getting some fat from an "organic" beef producer (Maplewood Natural Organics) that is the brighter yellow like GoodSamaritan's beef fat. I asked about this and this is the explanation I received:

"You are right about the beta carotene causing the yellowness in the fat - a
grass-fed Jersey cow will have near yellow cream.  It is also somewhat
dependant on the beef breed and grazing management practices.  Devon and
crosses of Devon tend to have much whiter fat. Also with good rotational
grazing practices there will be higher sugar content in those grasses and we
find less yellowing of our cattle's fat yet still with high beta carotene."

I thought it was the beta carotene that caused the yellow? How could it be just as high in beta carotene yet be much paler?

[djr_81]

I thought it was the beta carotene that caused the yellow? How could it be just as high in beta carotene yet be much paler?

Higher sugar content resulting in greater fat stores? It would result in less beta carotene per pound of fat when consuming the same quantity of grass.

[invisible]

my grassfed fat has been both white and yellow. I always suspected it was the age of the animal. Younger animals when grass fed still have white fat because beta carotene changes the colour of the fat over time.

[cherimoya_kid]

Higher sugar content resulting in greater fat stores? It would result in less beta carotene per pound of fat when consuming the same quantity of grass.

It's complicated, but, basically, no.

"high sugar" is a somewhat-misleading term, when what's actually higher is not only the sugar content, but the vitamin and mineral content, as well.  take a look at
www.crossroads.ws That is all about Brix and it's relationship to nutritional quality and plant health.

Basically, WITHIN THE VERY SAME SUB-VARIETY of plant (not talking about comparing cultivated to wild varieties, instead we're talking about comparing plants that are genetically pretty-much-exactly-the-same), higher sugar content nearly always is directly correlated with higher mineral and nutrient content. 

"High-sugar" hay/grass is what farmers are after, because it gives healthy, happy cows. 

Read that site I linked to, and feel free to email the author.