cost of tallow

IrishLass said:

My Smart & Final sells beef tallow, too. I haven't bought any yet because I'm still using up the tallow I bought elsewhere, but once that is gone, I will think I shall buy it from there.

To the OP- I would do what Newbie said- hold off on buying any fat trimmings until the nice butchers are there to wait on you.

IrishLass

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I use S&F's tallow, it works beautifully. Although I admit I cannot compare it to fresh rendered, and this is hydrogenated to make a shortening. I use the Beef Tallow choice in soapcalc, since I could not come up with the sap number. I emailed the manufacturer and asked S&F's manager if he could get it. He could not get anymore info than I already had. Forgot to mention, their beef tallow shortening is 100% tallow which is why I use the tallow option

I have used the great value shortening and it has worked fine. I have seen other grocers list theirs as Precreamed Shortening so if you see that read the label, it should be tallow.

lionprincess00 said:

Mission accomplished! Asked for trimmings, the cutting butcher was there and I got this! Thinking it should render to a good 5 solid lbs or so.

The mean guy saw and sneered. He looked so mad and I was nice as pie. I said if they charge it's cool, I may find cheaper elsewhere and just need to know the cost. He overheard and was so mad looking, and I wondered if he thought I was getting him into trouble or something.

Honestly, Kroger employs mentally and physically disabled. I don't know if he has a handicap and is rude looking towards patrons because he has, say, a form of social anxiety or is on the autism spectrum. It may be anxiety and not anger, but boy he shoots bullets out his eyes.

So this holiday season, he shall receive my biggest and prettiest soap when I deliver them to all the butchers for being so kind to me with the free tallow he needs the kindness probably the most.

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Know that it is a little late in the game but I work with the disabled here in south dakota. I am not saying that it is always the same, but most people that are a little MR might be a little on the mean side, but most are really sweet, due to not fully understanding mean.. Most autistic don't do well with in a larger group they mostly turn inward, or if not to bad to handle large groups will be fine, don't act like that. Most are going in as good if not sweet people, unless they trigger into a behavior.
I am going to say that dude was a jerk that didn't like anything to be free, or given away.
No since I didn't read all the posts I hope I didn't make a fool of myself lol.

cmzaha said:

I use S&F's tallow, it works beautifully. Although I admit I cannot compare it to fresh rendered, and this is hydrogenated to make a shortening. I use the Beef Tallow choice in soapcalc, since I could not come up with the sap number. I emailed the manufacturer and asked S&F's manager if he could get it. He could not get anymore info than I already had. Forgot to mention, their beef tallow shortening is 100% tallow which is why I use the tallow option

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cmzaha, I have asked at two Smart and Final stores for beef tallow and
they saw they've never heard or seen it. When you buy it, is it kept in the shortening/oils section? What does the package look like?

I would love to find a source of local tallow! I splurged and bought some from ebay but I can't make that a habit.

I have a 50 pound box sitting in my living room right now. It's called Beef Shortening by First Street, don't ask for tallow since they won't know what you are talking about probably. It's in the oil section I believe, with all the other frying oils and it's in a box, not refrigerated or anything.

Thank you jblaney; I'll keep looking!

I just went to the store to try to find some tallow (I've seen it at Walmart, so I thought our large grocery store would have it too), but they didn't have any. I guess I should have asked the butcher about it. I'm going to have to ask the local butcher in the town we're moving to what they do with their fat trimmings. They butcher local beef, which would an added bonus.

lenarenee said:

cmzaha, I have asked at two Smart and Final stores for beef tallow and
they saw they've never heard or seen it. When you buy it, is it kept in the shortening/oils section? What does the package look like?

I would love to find a source of local tallow! I splurged and bought some from ebay but I can't make that a habit.

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It is in a 50lb box. They do not carry it in a can or smaller amounts. The box says First Street Beef Shortening. I always transfer it to buckets or I would take a pic. Possibly not all carry it but your S&F manager should be able to get it. I live in a large hispanic area so lard and tallows are usually available. LOL, Blaney beat me to it. She is right it is in the oil section. Smart & Final managers are very helpful and they know what they have

cmzaha said:

It is in a 50lb box. They do not carry it in a can or smaller amounts. The box says First Street Beef Shortening. I always transfer it to buckets or I would take a pic. Possibly not all carry it but your S&F manager should be able to get it. I live in a large hispanic area so lard and tallows are usually available. LOL, Blaney beat me to it. She is right it is in the oil section. Smart & Final managers are very helpful and they know what they have

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Nothing smaller? Oh, well. I went through 24 pounds of lard in 5 weeks, do 50 lbs of tallow just makes me drool!

Can you remember a rough idea of the price?

I think it was about $35, but don't hold me to it. I thought it was a good price.

I pay approx $36 for the 50 lbs of Beef Shortening

Yeah that is - less than a dollar a pound! :grin: Cheaper than lard which was 6.77 for a 4lb bucket last time I was at Wal Mart.

The lard at smart & final is about the same price as the beef tallow, maybe even a few dollars less. It is also in the 50 lb. box, made by First Street. I have noticed the prices change from time to time, but only by a couple of dollars.

Ooh...50 lbs of lard and tallow....I'm gonna need some more lye!

lionprincess00 said:

I was receiving fat trimmings for free. Well this miserable man at the market that looks at me as though he would love to see me dead was the only one there last week. He said he had some and went to package it. Now the butcher and all other employees charge me zero for it. They're all so friendly and welcoming. This guy I've seen for yrs there, and he glares every freaking week I show. I smile and say hi! How ya doin! In all southern charm and he glares and walks off. Creaper.

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Okay trouble maker :razz: Now that you got me curious about using fat trimmings please tell me how to render it. I was at the store and happen to ask the butcher if I could get some fat trimmings. I know have a 5lb package (no charge) and now I do not know what to do with it. Help please..................
I am just curious if I can tell a difference from the tallow shortening versus fresh rendered fat. Thanks

Sure! I wrote this on another thread. I edited it some for you....

Hi! I take it and cut off all meat bits I can. Then I cut it into small inch sized pieces or so. Someone here mentioned baking soda to help the render smell, and another mentioned salt for helping get impurities out.
So.

I put it into a pot of water that's filled halfway up the fat. I pour a good half cup or so of salt into it. I mix oh about 3 tablespoons of baking soda into water and pour it on as well. It creates a reaction and releases carbon dioxide, so beware as it heats of spilling over. I did an experiment not using baking soda in the render, and by the third it still smelled extremely meaty. Whatever the reason, it helps a ton reduce the overall finished product's odor. BEWARE OF EVAPORATION, and fill with fresh water as needed.

I heat it on medium low for a good half hour, and then lower the temperature to full low. I simmer for, oh, 4 hours or more, until the fat looks like a gelatinous gooey sinus infection lol. I strain it through a sieve into a glass Pyrex baking dish, used cheesecloth in the sieve once but can't find it anywhere after I ran out, so sieve it is.

I refrigerate it for at least 4 hours or so. It needs to cool completely through. Overnight is best.

Look at the liquid now. Below the fat in the dish after its cooled, the water is a deep muddy brown and STINKS like what I would *think* a dead body smells like. I almost gag at this point when I go and dump it in the field for the coyotes to sniff out haha.
Once I didn't do this, and I'm assuming I used cleaner pieces of fat and cut most trimming off compared to other times, so you may or may not get this.

It looks like it's pretty clean fat now, but there's more cleaning that can occur, and I want it very very clean to prevent smell, dos development, and just the yuck factor of bits being left behind. That water was so nasty, and if it was that bad there's more cleaning throughout the fat that needs to happen.

Scrape any funk off the base of the fat disc and discard.

Pop out the solid fat disc and place in the pot. Fill with water to cover an inch below the fat, or so. This isn't an exact science, so close is fine.. Add about a quarter cup of salt and another few tbs of baking soda. Heat on low, and melt it. I keep it here for a couple hours or so. I strain it out into the cleaned out Pyrex. Cool for at least 4 hours. It just needs adequate time to harden completely through. If you pop it out too quickly, the bottom of the disc will still be water logged. The water beneath the fat disc this second render is a murky slightly tinted white. Very murky.
Scrape the base of yucks again.

I do it again. This time I use about between 1/8 and 1/4 cup of salt. Honestly I dump and eyeball it, but for instructions sake, start with these and make it your own. The water after cooling is a cloudy white, but getting cleaner looking.
Scrape discolored base.
I do it the fourth time. The water is almost clear after this render and cooling. This is how I know most of the impurities are gone. I DON'T use salt this final render nor baking soda. The salt may be what clouds the left over water in the above rendering, but I know it still needs the extra rendering based on the smell too. The smell is nonexistent practically by the fourth render and cooling. The water left beneath the disc doesn't smell either by the fourth time. Is four necessary, probably not. I just want a clean clean product if I'm going to do it myself and not purchase it.
Now is it necessary on bigger batches, yes and so is a fifth. If you're doing a lot at once, it may need 5 renders.
If you split your 5 lbs into 2.5 renders each, 4 is good. If you do all at once, use a big enough pot for the bubbles of salt and baking soda reacting, and plan on 5 renders, and potentially 6 depending on how little the odor remains.

Thankyou Lionprincess. I tried doing a search for rendering but did not find your previous post. It is in the pot now

Not a problem, and glad I can help! I took the article off smf (in the article section on rendering), and googled someone's blog (don't remember who). I found a poster mention how they did it, and that's what I came up with.

Okay, good to know. :shock: Thanks for that lionprincess. I am not longer considering rendering my own, and am much, much more understanding as to why people charge $5 a pound on ebay for grass fed organic tallow!!

lenarenee said:

Okay, good to know. :shock: Thanks for that lionprincess. I am not longer considering rendering my own, and am much, much more understanding as to why people charge $5 a pound on ebay for grass fed organic tallow!!

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Sure lol! It sounds daunting I know (and it is some work, but most is the work of the stove really). It may not be totally necessary, but even the article here on smf recommends 3 renders, so I know the more the cleaner. I'd be leary of buying others, and seeing as mine is totally scent free, color free, and hard as a rock after refrigeration, I'm confident I have a top notch quality product. It makes me feel so old school too, and since I love baking bread from scratch and such, it gives me a bigger feeling of homesteading accomplishment. Sounds silly, but I love it!