3 Reasons to Cook with Bison Tallow

While there are many more than three reasons, these are the three biggest reasons to cook using tallow, specifically bison tallow! Bison tallow is an excellent and ideal cooking oil in many ways. It is stable with a high smoke point, full of healthy fats and other compounds, tastes delicious, can be used for skincare or soap, and much more.

We always recommend sourcing tallow from the healthiest and cleanest animals you can find, to ensure that you’re not getting bad yucky stuff mixed in with all the good stuff!

We provide tallow from the healthiest, cleanest, and most athletic animals we could find on the North American continent—100% Grass-Fed & Finished, Regeneratively-Ranched bison raised on small American family ranches here in the USA. Even the glass jars for our tallow are made right here in the USA!

1) stable & high smoke point

Tallow is almost all saturated fats, which are very stable when exposed to heat or oxygen, and feature a high smoke point. Oils with high smoke points can be used at high heats without oxidizing fatty acids or denaturing any present proteins. When fatty acids are oxidized and proteins are denatured, these substances can become inflammatory. Chronic inflammation, especially inlfammation caused by diet, is the cause of many diseases and disorders in humans. Cooking with unstable fats and regularly consuming oxidized fatty acids can cause chronic inflammation and problems (1). Use anti-inflammatory oils and cooking oils like bison tallow that have high smoke points and can stand up to high heat without being damaged!

2) healthy fats & cholesterol

Tallow is a rich source of healthy fat and healthy cholesterols. Rich in fatty acids like myristic acid, stearic acid, palmitic acid, palmitoleic acid, oleic acid, and linoleic acid, tallow has a diverse array of fats which in turn confer a diverse array of benefits. Myristic acid is a saturated fat which is not only wonderful for the skin (because of its ability to cleanse and clarify as well as its anti-fungal properties), but also improves omega 3 levels in the blood, and has shown to be heart-healthy and postively impacts cardiovascular health (2). Stearic acid is a fatty acid whose consumption actually boosts our own metabolism of fat—eating fat can actually burn fat! This potent acid has even been shown in studies to reduce levels of visceral abdominal fat (3). Tallow also contains oleic acid, a fatty acid found in olive oil and possibly responsible for many of the health benefits attributed to olive oil. Oleic acid has been shown in studies to widely modulate physiological functions ranging from beneficial effects on cancer, metabolic syndromes, autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, all the way to enhancing wound healing (4). If you’re not getting this fatty acid in your diet, you’re missing out! Linoleic acid is also present in tallow and likely impacts cardiovascular health in unique ways. This fatty acid can reduce total as well as LDL cholesterol particles, and likely improves both blood pressure as well as insulin sensitivity (key to diabetes, weight control, and metabolic syndromes) (5). Palmitoleic acid is a fatty acid also present in tallow which has a plethora of potential benefits for those who consume it. Palmitoleic acid is an omega 7 fatty acid with a range of benefits, lowering and regulating inflammation, promoting cardiovascular health, enhancing collagen production (and skin & joint health), promoting healthy fat metabolism, and even promoting eye health (6). Finally, linolenic acid, an omega 3, is present in tallow as well, and can promote cardiovascular health and blood pressure (7).

3) neutral & tasty

Tallow has a neutral flavor and you can cook anything with it. Contrary to popular belief, bison tallow does not have a strong, gamey, or bison-y flavor. It’s a neutral-tasting oil with a mild meaty flavor, one that imparts itself well to sauteed vegetables, mashed or roasted potatoes or root vegetables, it’s wonderful to shallow-fry burgers or a steak in, or—perhaps my favorite guilty pleasure—makes the best french fries of all time. Because of its high smoke point, it can be used as a traditional frying oil as well.

You can even replace Kerrygold or grass-fed butter in your coffee in the mornings (if you do the Bulletproof or buttered coffee thing) with bison tallow. The flavor is that neutral! You’ll love cooking any and everything in 100% Grass-Fed & Finished Bison Tallow.

KEy takeaways

• The reasons to cook with bison tallow and otherwise consume it are many!

• Toxins accumulate in fat and tallow—so, it should be sourced from the healthiest, cleanest, and grass-fed animals available

• Tallow is full of stable saturated fats, making it ideal for cooking use and high-heat applications

• Tallow is composed of a diversity of fatty acids, almost all of which confer unique health benefits

• Tallow tastes neutral, is delicious, and can be used to cook virtually everything

• Tallow should be sourced from 100% Grass-Fed animals. We produce our tallow from the healthiest and most athletic bison we can find, and it’s truly the best tallow available

References

1. https://www.healthline.com/health-news/high-temperature-cooking-can-heat-up-inflammation#:~:text=High%2DTemperature%20Cooking%20Can%20Heat%20up%20Inflammation&text=Cooking%20food%20at%20overly%20hot,sometimes%20be%20triggered%20by%20heat.

2. https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/myristic-acid#:~:text=4.1.&text=Myristic%20acid%2C%20a%20long%2Dchain,impacts%20positively%20on%20cardiovascular%20health.

3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4164353/#:~:text=Dietary%20stearic%20acid%20leads%20to%20a%20reduction%20of%20abdominal%20fat,)%20increased%204%25%20(Fig.

4. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23278117/#:~:text=Olive%20oil%2C%20rich%20in%20oleic,ability%20to%20facilitate%20wound%20healing.

5. https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/2014/11/05/dietary-linoleic-acid-and-risk-of-coronary-heart-disease/#:~:text=Instead%2C%20linoleic%20acid%20itself%20plays,insulin%20sensitivity%20and%20blood%20pressure.

6. https://www.lifeextension.com/wellness/supplements/omega-7-benefits

7. https://www.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingredientmono-1035/alpha-linolenic-acid-ala#:~:text=Alpha%2Dlinolenic%20acid%20(ALA)%20is%20an%20essential%20omega%2D,might%20also%20reduce%20blood%20clots.