When I first started learning about tallow skincare, I quickly realized that saying a product is “made with beef tallow” actually tells you very little about the ingredient inside the jar.

What part of the animal did the fat come from? How was the animal raised? What was it fed? Who rendered the tallow? Was it refined, bleached or deodorized before it ever reached the skincare maker?

Those questions mattered to me.

That's why every jar of OCASA tallow begins with pasture-raised, grass-fed + grass-finished beef kidney suet that we receive raw and dry-render ourselves in-house.

 

What's the Difference Between Suet and Tallow?

These two words are often used interchangeably, but they're not exactly the same thing.

Suet is the raw fat. Tallow is what we get after that fat has been rendered.

Beef has different types of fat throughout the body. The softer fat found under the skin and around muscle is often referred to as trim fat.

Kidney suet is different.

Suet is the firm, dense fat found primarily around the kidneys and loins. It has a naturally different consistency and fatty-acid composition from softer beef fat deposits.

Once we slowly heat that raw suet and separate the pure fat from the remaining tissue, it becomes the creamy tallow we use in our skincare.

So when you see “beef tallow” on an ingredient list, it doesn't necessarily tell you what type of beef fat the maker started with.

At OCASA, we specifically choose kidney suet.

 

Why Do We Use Kidney Suet?

I don't choose ingredients simply because they're available. I choose them based on what I want in the finished formula.

Kidney suet is naturally firm and has a relatively high proportion of saturated fatty acids, including stearic acid. Once carefully rendered, it produces the beautiful, firm, creamy tallow I want as the foundation of our water-free moisturizers.

That naturally rich consistency also pairs beautifully with the botanical oils and herbal infusions we use throughout our tallow collection.

 

Where Does Our Beef Suet Come From?

Our beef suet is sourced from a fourth-generation family ranch based in Northern California.

They raise their cattle on open pasture using regenerative, organic agricultural practices focused on soil health, biodiversity and long-term stewardship of the land. Most of the ranch’s pastureland is Certified Organic, and its cattle are rotationally grazed on open pasture from birth to harvest.

For me, this is an important part of making tallow skincare.

I don't just want to know what part of the animal our fat came from.

I want to know how that animal was raised, what it was fed and how the land supporting it was cared for.

 

Why Grass-Fed AND Grass-Finished?

You've probably seen “grass-fed” written on everything from beef packaging to tallow skincare.

But grass-fed and grass-finished aren't necessarily the same thing.

Cattle can consume grass during part of their lives and later be finished on grain. When we say our source is grass-fed + grass-finished, we're talking about cattle kept on a forage-based diet through finishing.

An animal's diet and production system can influence the composition of its fat, which is one reason sourcing matters to us.

But there's also a simpler reason.

I want to know where my ingredients come from.

Our standards don't begin when the suet arrives at the apothecary. They begin much earlier... with the source itself.

That's why we intentionally source pasture-raised, grass-fed + grass-finished beef kidney suet rather than treating tallow as a generic commodity ingredient.

 

We Start With Raw Suet

This is one of the biggest differences between the way we make OCASA tallow and an easier way we could make it.

We don't receive a bucket of finished tallow.

We receive the raw kidney suet.

From there, the rendering happens in-house.

We prepare the suet and slowly dry-render it at low heat, allowing the pure fat to separate from the remaining tissue.

We don't add water during our rendering process.

Once rendered, the liquid tallow is carefully filtered multiple times until we're left with the naturally creamy tallow that becomes the base of our formulas.

That means I get to see this ingredient through its entire transformation:

Raw suet → rendering → filtering → finished tallow → botanical formulation → your jar.

 

Is Our Tallow Bleached?

No. Never.

This is one of the questions I receive surprisingly often.

Our tallow isn't chemically bleached to make it white.

The beautiful pale, creamy color you see comes naturally from the tallow after careful rendering and filtering.

We don't need to make it look pure through additional processing.

 

Is Our Tallow Deodorized?

No. Never.

Our tallow is never deodorized.

Deodorization is a refining process that can be used with fats and oils to remove naturally occurring odors and volatile compounds.

Instead, we focus on the quality of our raw suet and our rendering process.

That also means we aren't using fragrance to disguise the smell of poorly rendered tallow.

In fact, our facial tallow creams contain no added fragrance or essential oils. 

When you choose Lavender, Calendula, Vanilla, Coffee + Vanilla or Frankincense, those aren't simply “scents” added to the same base.

We work with real botanical infusions.

 

Is our Tallow GMO-Free?

This is a question I receive often, and I think there's a better way to answer it than simply putting “GMO-free” on a jar.

Our cattle are 100% grass-fed + grass-finished and aren't fed grain, corn, soy or other feed. They graze grasses and perennial plants, with hay used as needed. 

No grain. No corn. No soy. 100% grass-fed + grass-finished.

Transparency means more to me than another marketing claim.

Are the cattle raised without antibiotics or added hormones?

Yes. Our never receive artificial hormones, growth promotants or antibiotics.

Again, I don't share this because I'm trying to turn the ranching practices behind our ingredients into skincare claims.

I share it because I believe you deserve to know where the ingredients you're putting on your skin come from.

Not All Tallow Skincare Is Made the Same

Tallow has become incredibly popular.

And I'm glad more people are becoming curious about traditional ingredients and simpler skincare.

But popularity also means it's worth asking more questions.

Don't stop at:

“Does this contain tallow?”

Ask:

What kind of beef fat was used?

Was it kidney suet or trim fat?

How were the cattle raised?

Were they grass-fed and grass-finished?

Who rendered the tallow?

Was it bleached?

Was it deodorized?

Is the brand rendering from raw suet or purchasing finished tallow?

There isn't necessarily one answer that every person has to accept.

But you should be able to get an answer.

 

From Pasture to Jar

When you open a jar of OCASA tallow, you're seeing the final step of a much longer process.

It started before the raw suet ever arrived at our door.

• Pasture-raised.
• Grass-fed + grass-finished.
• Kidney suet.
• Slow dry-rendering.
• Multiple rounds of filtering.
• Never bleached.
• Never deodorized.
• Whole-botanical infusions.
• Handcrafted in small batches.

There are easier ways to make tallow skincare.

There are faster ways.

There are probably cheaper ways.

But that's never been what we are about.

I want to know where our ingredients come from. I want to understand how they're processed. And whenever possible, I want us to have our hands in that process ourselves.

Because something doesn't become a quality ingredient simply because the label says “tallow.”

What happened before it reached the jar matters, too.

And our standard will always remain simple:

If we wouldn't use it on ourselves or on the people we love, we wouldn't be making it.