It's Time To Get Fat. Real Fat!

Our Big Fat Mission Statement

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What and Who is Fatworks?

Fatworks is a family-owned company that has been crafting the finest premium traditional Organic and Pasture Raised fats (Tallow, Lard, Poultry Fats and Ghee since 2011. We have been tireless crusaders against industrialized seed oils and fat-phobia everywhere. Our products are absolutely and unapologetically premium fat sourced from the best farmers in the U.S.A. (With the exception of our Japanese Wagyu Tallow which is, naturally, sourced from 100% A5 cattle from Japan.

Fatworks is also known by the aliases, "The Fattitude Adjusters", and "The "Defenders of Fat". We hope you will join us on our delicious and nutritious mission of supplying fat lovers with real fat! We've been working to give people an alternative to industrialized seed oils since 2011.

Fatworks was created to meet the very exacting standards of gourmet cooks, chefs, bakers and fry fanatics, but we very much started our company from the perspective that real fat is a health food source. We proudly created our fat first and foremost for Paleo/Primal, carnivore, AIP, Keto, Weston A. Price, Whole 30, and anyone else who embraces real fat as part of a healthy lifestyle. Luckily, as a consequence of sourcing the healthiest fat possible and rendering them in an artisinal manner that we cal, "granny-style", we also make the best tasting fat. Real fat always brings more flavor whether you are frying, baking or grilling. So, if you are passionate about healthy fat for cooking, skincare soapmaking or candle-making, you have come to the right place as no company is more dedicated to crafting healthy, traditional fat than Fatworks. Welcome Fatworker!

What is a Fatworker?

Fatworkers are the heart and soul of Fatworks. They are people (like you, we assume, since you made it this far) who spread the truth about healthy fat through education and delicious cooking. A Fatworker is someone who understands that industrialized seed oils are problematic at best and the source of much of our diseases at worst. A Fatworker chooses real fat fat as they understand that fat works for flavor, food, and fuel. A fat Fatworker also uses real fat for skincare as people's skin absorbs real fat as if it were their own natural sebum.

If you want to be a Fatworker too, then, of course, you already are! But it doesn't hurt to sign up for our mailing list to find out about sales, events, research, recipes, etc. To get on the list hit this button here and the fat fairy will make a pop-up magically appear.

Why is Fatworks the Defender of Fat?

Someone needs to defend real fat and we have been the ones to do it. We have been fighting fat-phobia and the industrialized seed oil syndicate for over 12 years. We only support real fat, rendered in small batches sourced from small family farms across the US.

Thankfully we are not alone. Many researchers, doctors and nutritionists are finally starting to promote fat. The antiquated myths that malign saturated fat and animal based fats are based on an unproven 60 year old "lipid hypothesis" which states:

A. Saturated fat raises cholesterol
B. Higher cholesterol causes heart disease
Therefore:
C. Saturated fat causes heart disease.

Over the long term, saturated fat has not been shown to raise cholesterol levels by any large degree for most people in the population. But, (and here is the important part), simply raising ones cholesterol does not cause heart attacks. We can even take it one step further and tell you that there seems to be a protective element to cholesterol for overall mortality rates and higher cholesterol is associated with better brain health. (Maybe because the brain is 80% cholesterol!)

Of course we are but simple crafters-o-fat, so please do yourself a favor and check out the following links written by one of our heroes. He's much smarter than we are.
The Diet-Heart Myth: Why Everyone Should Know Their LDL Particle Number
The Diet-Heart Myth: Cholesterol and Saturated Fat Are Not the Enemy

Why do we say, "Friends don't let friends eat industrialized vegetable oil?"

Weird isn't it, how research shows that humans may not be well adapted to eating oils created by scientists in a lab such as canola, sunflower, soybean, cottonseed, etc. In fact, research shows that "vegetable" oils (a.k.a industrialized seed oil) may be quite harmful. As mentioned in Time magazine way back in from 2016, "The unsaturated fats found in vegetable oils, when they're heated, tend to oxidize. In this form, they're more dangerous to body tissues and can trigger inflammation, a known risk factor for making blood-vessel plaques unstable enough to cause a heart attack." Research clearly demonstrates that it is the OXIDATION of fats NOT THE SATURATION LEVEL OF FAT that is the real issue for heart health. Even cardiologists such as Dr. Jack Wolfson, have been telling people for years that oxidation is the true culprit in atherosclerosis and heart disease. According to proponents of the theory, known as the "degenerative hypothesis", those so-called bad LDL's that we've all heard about, only become a problem when they become oxidized! As a side note, even Omega-3's oxidize so you should always purchase any fish oils from a reputable source. Lastly, traditional fats simply add way more flavor.

Is Fatworks Paleo, Keto, GAPS, Whole 30, Carnivore, etc.?

Not only are our fats good for these types of lifestyles, Fatworks was created precisely FOR these lifestyles. After all we are one of you! We were birthed from a strict adherence of Paleo and cyclical Keto. If you follow a lifestyle that embraces healthy fat then you already understand the benefits of fat and you've probably strated changing your life before you were introduced to Fatworks, but we are here to support your excellent choices. To those who embrace REAL fat, tallow, lard, poultry fat and ghee are an essential part of the diet. Many, many people have become healthier with more energy when they consume what used to be a no-no, traditional animal based fats.

That being said, if you have an inspirational story, please send it to us - we may use it to help inspire others, and if we use it in our social media as an inspirational story will send you a 25% off coupon code.

However, it should be said that even if you don't need to follow these lifestyles you can still get the health and culinary benefits of our products. Fatworks believes optimal health means eating high quality meats, fruits, nuts and vegetables. So all you need to be a Fatworker is to understand the value of eating the highest quality food.

Raising and Feeding Standards

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Do your Animals Get Vaccines?

No, the animals that we source for our Tallows, Lards, Poultry Fats and Ghee do not receive any vaccines whatsoever, which includes the mRNA vaccine.

Do your products contain any antibiotics or added hormones?

None of Fatworks fats, whether it be tallow, lard, poultry fats or ghee, is sourced from animals that have received any hormones or antibiotics.

What is the Difference Between Your Organic and Your Pasture-Raised Fats?

The answer is that it depends on the fat.

Fatworks Grass-Fed Beef Tallow comes in two types a "Certified Organic Grass-Fed Tallow" and a non-certified "Grass-Fed Tallow." Both are Grass-Fed, Grass-Finished, and Pasture-Raised. The Organic Grass-Fed Tallow is sourced from suet that has been certified by a third party as being "Organic." The main features of a certified Organic fat is that it is certified as being non-GMO, pesticide-free, antibiotic-free with no added hormones and no vaccines. In addition, the Organic version is rendered at a different plant that itself has been certified to be able to produce Organic tallow. The Organic certification of the plant has nothing to do with the quality of the processing, simply that the plant has done taken the steps and the paperwork to show that they have traceability in place so that Organic products do not accidentally get comingled with other products. The process itself is the same in both facilities.

As for the non Organic "Grass-Fed Tallow", it meets the same standards as the Organic version however it is not certified by a third party. Often we source from smaller farms to get the suet for our non-certified Grass-Fed Tallow. We do get affidavits from these small farms who clearly state that they raise their cattle with the same standards as found in Organic products. Often these ranches or farms simply do not want to pay for the expense to get the Organic certification as this can we costly and time-consuming. On to the Lard!

Fatworks Pasture-Raised Lard vs. Fatworks Organic Lards. Our Organic Lards have the organic standards such eating Organically certified feed, being non-GMO, pesticide-free, antibiotic-free with no added hormones or vaccines, however, they are not raised on Pastures, rather large pens where they are able to be "Free-Range". Still very humanely raised, but not on Pasture. Whereas the Pasture-Raised Pork is raised on Pasture and/or Forest lots where they are free to be roam and tend to eat a more diverse diet. Both the Pasture-Raised and Organic pork receive Non-GMO pig feed but the Organic is the only one that is certified as Organic.

We make an Organic Chicken Fat but not a Pasture Raised Chicken Fat as we have not found a supplier that does both and when in came to chicken the "Pasture Raised" farms that we found did not give the chicken good feed and the pastures were overcrowded so we decided to only go with Organic Chicken Fat.

Hopefully that helps clear things up, if not, please let us know where we lost you and we will be happy to answer your questions and fix up any confusion in this here FAQ.

Do you Hydrogenate Your Fat?

Of course not. We actually get a bit upset that people would still ask us this questions as hydrogenation is anathema to everything Fatworks stands for. But then we remember that not everybody knows that Fatworks was the company to bring back no-hydrogenated fats back into the mainstream. So anyone asking, we understand your concern as hydrogenation, which causes artificial trans fats using very high temps will cause a small amount of hydrogenation, but we render our fats at low temps from 180-220F. To truly hydrogenate oil or fat requires machinery that creates a vacuum and pumps hydrogen into the oil. We do not have such equipment so as we like to say when asked this question, "we could not even hydrogenate our fats if we wanted to, and we certainly don't want to."

Shelf Life, Storage and Separation

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What is the storage and shelf life info for my Product?

Congratulations you found our most popular question.

FATS

NOTE: Always use a clean utensil when scooping the fat from your jar. Introducing food into the jar can cause "nasties" in a pretty short order.

Poultry Fat (Duck, Goose, Chicken): Keep in Refrigerator. Will last 12-18 months in the fridge.

Pasture Raised Lards: Keep in Refrigerator. Lard will last 12-18 months in the fridge. 

Tallows and Ghees : Keep in Pantry. You can keep in the fridge but it will turn rock hard and then you will need to give it a hot water bath (or microwave it on low if you are into that sort of thing.) Once it's slightly melted it will be "spoonable" and ready for you to enjoy. Tallow is naturally shelf stable for about one year. One thing we recommend for tallow uses that are using their tallow sparingly is to keep the tallow in the fridge or freezer (it will not break the jar) and then remove a day before you are going to use it and let the tallow get to room temp. Then you can use it and put it back into the fridge or freezer. It will stay fresher longer this way. If you plan on going through your tallow in a 3-6 months this is not necessary.

You can freeze your fat for an even longer shelf life, years in fact.

BONE BROTHS

The bone broths have a two year shelf life if unopned. Once opened put in fridge and consume within 7 days.

Can be frozen as well and should last years.

SKINCARE

Our skin care has a two year shelf life.

Is oil separation normal in my FAT?

Do not get separation anxiety! Our fats all contain different fatty acids (saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated). Since different fatty acids have differing weights, over time gravity pulls them apart. This will often add a yellow hue and sometimes a"grainy" texture for the tallows and lards, and even at times a slightly liquid consistency, but this does NOT indicate that the product has gone“bad”.  

If you wish to make your fat more solid please perform a "reset".  To "reset" your fat simply do the following: 1. Put jar (with lid on), on a pan or in a skillet at 250F for 30-45 minutes. This will fuse the fatty acids back together. 2. Carefully remove the jar with an oven mitt and place it in the fridge for 4-5 hours to solidify. Your fats should not separate further. Poultry Fats and Lards should remain in the fridge whereas Tallows and Ghees can be stored in the pantry.

My Fat Arrived Liquid-y. Is This OK?

Typically a question received in the summer months. Our fats will melt during transit sometimes. The Poultry Fat especially will almost certainly arrive melted. The lard, tallow and ghees can also arrive liquid as well. This is nothing to worry about whatsoever. At the time of writing we have been shipping our products for 12 years year round and the integrity or freshness of the product is not diminished during the summer months. The fats are rendered at around 200 degrees so they are certainly able to withstand travel temps in the 100's. The standard travel time for our product is about 2-5 days and while enough time to melt the product, that is not nearly enough time to cause any significant oxidation, especially as the jar are all vacuum sealed. If your product arrives melted we suggest putting it in the fridge for 3 hours before using and it will solidify. Once it returns to solid form you can leave in the fridge or, in the case of the tallows and the ghee, store in a pantry.

Tallow Talk

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What is Tallow?

Tallow and Lard are both rendered fat. A rendered fat means that the raw fat has been cooked to the point where any water and protein seperates from the fat. Technically a "tallow" is a rendered fat that is solid at room temperature. That's the reason you can make dipped candles with tallow and not from lard. We currently have several types of tallow: beef tallow, lamb tallow, bison tallow, and are working on future tallows such as Elk and Venison Tallow. Each tallow has their unique flavor and benefits. To find out more about the indivdual tallows please visit the product pages themselves on our store. We have explained the benefits of tallow in great detail on the following Facebook posts.

Tallow Be Thy Name (Part 1)
The Tallow Tale (Part 2 of The Great Tallow Manifesto)

Why do you call your tallow "cooking oil" if I can use it on my skin?

When we started Fatworks there was a generation of people who didn't even know what tallow was, and those that did know about tallow didn't understand the benefits of real fat. We had to let the consumer understand that the primary use is as a cooking fat. However, there is nothing that we do to our tallow that makes it exclusively for cooking, and therefore it works great for skincare. We could have easily marketed our tallow as "Skincare Fat", we just chose "cooking oil" as we figured (correctly) that cooking would be the primary use for most consumers. But ultimately out tallows are Premium Grass Fed Tallows, without any additives, bleaching or deodorizing. You can make great dishes AND great skincare, soap or candles with Fatworks Grass-Fed Tallows, and many skincare companies and DIY skincare makers use Fatworks Tallow exclusively.

What is special about your Cage Free Duck Fat?

Fatworks Cage free duck fat is small kettle rendered with an all-natural fine-filtering
system to create the purest cage free duck fat on the market. This is the
liquid gold people have been talking about. Gourmet chefs loveduck fat and have
used it as their secret ingredient for years, but that secret is out, and duck fat
is back and more popular than ever. Duck Fat imparts a rich, distinct delicious
flavor that you need to experience to understand. Even people who don't like
duck meat love cooking with Duck Fat. It's difficult trying to describe a
flavor so we realize this probably doesn't help much, but we gave it a try. And
so should you. Make your own confit (or try ours), fry up some famous duck fat fries,
make roasted veggies or pan fry poultry. You can even spread it on a
"quacker" with a little sea salt. We source Mulard ducks, bred to
forage on land rather than water. They are raised in large duck enclosures without
cages and with plenty of room to roam, socialize, run around, preen their
feathers and just be as ducky as they wish. It should be noted that almost ALL
ducks raised in the U.S. are cage free and are by law hormone and antibiotic
free. With the giant food companies starting to hijack the premium fat category
we are offering a family owned alternative to the mega-corporations of the
world.

What is Pasture Raised Leaf Lard?

If your recipe asks for "lard" don't be confused and think you can't use Leaf Lard. You can and you should! Leaf Lard is simply the name of the highest quality pork lard in the world. Why is it such high quality? Well, we take organic leaves and we gently crush them into... just kidding. Leaf Lard is such high quality because it's made from only the so-called "leaf" of the pig. These are protective deposits of 100% pure precious pig fat. There is no meat muscle in the leaf and hence a milder pork flavor. Leaf Lard is the most prized cooking oil of all by bakers because it creates the lightest, moistest and flakiest crusts. Once you make a pie crust with Pasture Raised Leaf Lard you'll know exactly what we mean when we say real fat works. But Leaf Lard is not just for baking! Pastured Leaf Lard is perfect for frying and sauteing when you want oil with a neutral flavor that allows the ingredients of your dishes to shine. Our lard is 100% Pasture Raised.

What is Pasture Raised Pure Lard?

Fatworks Pure Lard is made mostly from delicious back fat. Fatworks only uses Pasture Raised non-GMO, hormone and antibiotic free pigs. Please note that this is the case NO MATTER IF THE JAR SAYS PASTURE RAISED OR NOT!!! There is a misconception that only Leaf Lard is good for baking however this is simply not the case and in fact, if you are looking for a bit more pig punch, Pure Lard is your best bet. Fear not, you would still achieve that famous lard flakiness that everyone talks about. And don't forget, Pure Lard is able to withstand medium to high heat and makes for great frying/sauteing. So, it's time you gave your mouth a true piggie back ride! Get it? Back fat from a pig. "piggie back" cause it's a pig and it's the back fat and..oh never mind) Fun Fat Fact: Lard is great for home soap making!

Why does some of the Fatworks Lard say pasture raised on the label whereas some jars do not?

ALL Fatworks lard and tallow is pasture raised. Even if the jar does not say "pastured raised" it IS pasture raised fat from a pasture raised farm. We ONLY source our pork and beef, lamb and buffalo from pasture raised farms and we receive affidavits from each farm stating that they are pasture raised and that they do not feed GMOs to their animals. Due to the confusing, time consuming, sometimes expensive and often unnecessary step of submitting claims to the USDA, some of our pasture raised farmers can not or do not wish to engage in the USDA claiming process. Some do take the time to do this. Therefore even though all our fat is from pasture raised farms, some of the jars will not have the pasture raised claim while others will, but, and we can't stress this enough, the quality of ALL our fat is the same, in that it is all from pasture raised farms. Just as one example (and there are several examples like this) for years we sourced from Polyface Farms and they didn't have the pasture raised claim. Why would they as everyone knows that Polyface and the Salatin's are the biggest advocates of pasture raised farming in the country! So any fat we received from we them would be jarred without the pasture raised claim. Last year they decided to deal with the USDA and get a pasture raised claim. Since then the pork fat we receive from them goes in our jars with the pasture raised claim. There is absolutely nothing different about the great quality of their fat between then and now, and no alterations to how Polyface raises or feeds their animals has changed. Again, our mission is to support FARMERS, not the USDA's capricious labeling policies. Hope that clears things up.

Are there any artificial trans fats in your products and do you add anything to your fats?

We are sorry you even had to ask, but the answer is no, artificial trans fats are NOT traditional fats in anyway. Partially hydrogenated trans fat are anathema to everything Fatworks stands for. In addition, none of the raw fat that we render is processed, smoked, hydrogenated or otherwise altered in anyway. Our Beef Tallow has .5 grams of NATURAL TRANS FAT. Only 100% Grass Raised Tallow will have enough CLA to register as having natural trans fat. We add the antioxidant Organic rosemary extract to our lard and poultry fats to help keep the peroxide low during the rendering process as oxidized fats are no ones friend.

Ok, so you say you have no artificial trans fats so what's with the 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving in your Grass Fed Beef Tallow?

You read correctly, our Tallow has 0.5 grams of natural trans fat and we are darn proud of it! ONLY cattle that is fed 100% high quality grass will register 0.5 or more grams per serving of natural trans fat. That's worth reiterating. Cattle fed grains will have LOWER natural trans fat. And yes, CLA is a naturally occurring trans fat folks! By naturally occurring we mean trans fats that are created during the digestion process of the ruminant animal (in this case cattle). Artificial trans fats are gross as we all know now, but naturally occurring trans fats have NEVER BEEN SHOWN TO BE UNHEALTHY IN ANYWAY and in fact trans fats like CLA have been shown to have promising health benefits in weight loss, heart health and cancer prevention. Again, so we are clear, all tallow will have some naturally occurring trans fats, but only high quality grass fed and finished beef tallow has enough natural trans fat to get to 0.5 grams or above per serving. It should be noted that in some strange rationale of the USDA, if a food has below .5 grams of trans fat the nutritional panel for that food can claim 0 grams per serving. Crazy, we know.If you find a tallow that does not have 0.5 or higher trans fat per serving we suggest you do like King Arthur in Monty Python and the Holy Grail and "Run Away!"

Unfortunately, we have been informed of some "Grass Fed Tallows" that are not listing any trans fat on their jars and people have asked us what is going on with that. Normally we only talk about our products but since we get this question every so often, and seeing as how we don't do much but think about fat, we have taken the liberty to speculate on why this would be. Again this is speculation but we think you'll find it interesting none-the-less. 1.) The tallow in question may not be 100% grass fed. If it is not rendered in a USDA facility there is no telling what shenanigans are going on so we suggest you watch out. 2.) Perhaps the tallow is grass fed but the cattle ate a lot of silage or haylage. This is still technically "grass fed" but is lesser quality food source than fresh grass and may not allow the cattle to create as much natural trans fat during digestion. 3.) It could be that other grass fed tallows do in fact have 0.5 grams of trans fat but are not listing it! How can that be you may ask? Two ways. This is a bit detailed so for the love of fat pay attention! First thing to understand is that there is an established database that food companies can pull from for certain products when submitting their labels for review to the USDA. This is done so that food companies do not have to send their products to a lab for testing of well-established single ingredient products. So does this database have Tallow? You betcha. But here's the kicker, the national database Nutritional Panel for Tallow does NOT have 0.5 grams per serving listed! This is because the national database is using GRAIN FINISHED TALLOW AS THE REFERENCE! As discussed earlier, grain-fed cattle have less naturally occurring trans fat and as a result, will have less than 0.5 grams of trans fat, and therefore the company is able to claim 0 grams trans fat. If a company doesn't know or care much about their products and are simply trying to capitalize on the "Fat Trend" they could just be using the national database having never done any testing at all. This would be quite disrespectful to the consumer and to the greatness that is Grass Fed Tallow if you ask us. 4.) There is a 4th and more sinister reason that we have thought of as well. A company could, in theory, do their own testing and discover that their fat does indeed have 0.5 grams of trans fat but then decide to use the Nutritional Panel from the national database anyway! Why would they do this? Simple, because the media and the USDA have done a terrible job educating the public on the differences between NATURAL trans fat and ARTIFICIAL trans fat, therefore perhaps a company would elect to use the national database Nutritional Panel that has 0 grams trans fat thinking (probably quite correctly) that the average customer would be scared away by seeing 0.5 grams of trans fat. If a company were to do this it would be pretty deceptive (and if they are willing to deceive their customers about that, what else aren't they telling you?) So, yeah we have probably gone off the deep end and far afield into tin foil hat land with this one, but in truth we wouldn't be surprised to find out this was the case for some companies. In theory we could do this too, but rather than hide the this information we take it as an opportunity to educate and inform fat lovers! We do full fatty acid profile on all our fats and we were quite relieved to find that we had over 0.5 grams of natural trans fat so that we could show this off with pride!

What do your animals eat?

Hopefully, this is the first question you looked for when you came to our site. Nothing is more important to an animal's quality of life than what they eat and how they are raised. For this reason we only use Pasture-Raised animals. The cows we use only eat grass and the ducks and pigs eat what they find in pasture in addition to their non-GMO feed. Please note that we are not certified non-GMO since we use small family farms as our source and many of these farmers can not afford, or simply do not wish, to go through the certification process.

So what's in the feed you ask? It's a high quality non-GMO mix of grains and soy. We realize some people are concerned about soy in particular because soy contains isoflavonoids which are biologically active compounds such as phytoestrogens. Some researchers believe these have a deleterious effect on the human body while other researchers will cite studies which claim that soy isoflavonoids are in fact beneficial. (Funny thing this food science.) For what it's worth, the founders of Fatworks try to avoid soy in their diet. That's why it was a happy day indeed when we received the email from the lab which stated, "it doesn't look like there are any "isoflavonoids" in the duck fat." A little known fact is that the isoflavonoids, it seems, are absorbed in the muscle meat and possibly the organs, but not the fat! The same principle applies for grain proteins such as gluten. Gluten is NOT absorbed into the fat of animals. Therefore our fats are, of course, gluten free.

We would like to stress once again that all the farmers we source from state that the soy or grains they use are non-GMO. Again, these are PASTURED ducks, pigs and cows. If you know anything about standard farming practices you know this is very rare indeed. Unlike the vast majority of ducks and pigs raised in the U.S., the animals we source feed on true pasture which provides them grass, grubs, clover and anything else they would eat in nature, making for a much more rounded fatty acid profile. Conceptually we would love, love, love to rid soy and even grains from all animal food supply, but this would literally starve the animals on pasture. It is currently only possible to feed without grain supplementation on very, very small farms, most of which are not USDA certified.

We thought long and hard about what we would permit in the feed of our products and basically it came down to this: We were not going to let the "perfect be the enemy of the good". Our mission is and has always been, to provide the best fat possible with the resources available. We created Fatworks to provide people with a healthier and better tasting alternative to trans fats and highly oxidizable industrialized seed/vegetable oils such as corn oil, sunflower seed oil, canola oil, etc. and we believe that we are making a difference. More people are starting to cook with REAL oil again for the first time in two generations, you know, back before heart disease and diabetes were epidemic and before... whoops, we got a bit off track there. Sometimes we get a little carried away when we talk about traditional fat, especially when our supporters know and care enough to ask the right questions.

Are your Products "Organic"?

We make several Certified Organic fats, as well as many Pasture Raised fats that we believe are as good or better, so for fat's sake, please read on! When it comes to say, an apple, we understand that having an organic certification is a great way to quickly know if a product meets a certain level of quality. However, we think the USDA falls short on their overall standards for certain organic certification. They believe for example that a bird raised in a cage can somehow be living an "organic" life. We do not agree. What we DO believe is in our farmers. We search for farmers who have standards that we believe exceed the USDA in every way. The animals we use are Pasture-Raised, Hormone-Free, Antibiotic-Free, Chemical-Free, and are raised by farmers doing it right! So even though we can't say that we sell organic lard, organic tallow or organic duck fat, if you know much about duck and pig farming you will know that Fatworks products are FAR, FAR beyond standard. For us it comes down to making the healthiest lard, healthiest tallow and healthiest duck fat.

Please note that we are not trying to disparage true organic farmers in any way. There are some small, and even some large companies who are organic and deserve your full support, however those companies are quickly becoming the minority. In fact, it is becoming clear that organic labeling no longer represents the small farms that it was designed to promote and instead has become, for the most part, a marketing tool for "Big Food" and "Big Agriculture". As this eye opening article shows, major corporations, and not small organic farmers, have come to dominate the boards that set the organic standards.

Has ‘Organic’ Been Oversized?

Sorry for the rant but hopefully you get the picture.

How do I filter my fat for multiple uses and can I use the same procedure for the Tallow, Leaf Lard and Duck Fat?

All of our fats can be filtered several times. If you fried your food and wish to reuse your fat you should follow these procedures:

-Make sure that the oil is hot enough so that the fat is liquid but cool enough that it will not burn you.

-Find a clean jar (glass is best) and strain the fat through a cheesecloth or, if you have a bit more time and patience, use a paper coffee filter.

Remember, there is no exact number of times we can recommend that you reuse your oil. There are simply too many variables, so use your good Fatworker judgment.

A few factors which can help determine the reusability of your oils are:

1. Heat of oil. The hotter you heat your oil the less times you will be able to reuse.
2. The amount of time you are using oil. The longer you use your oil the less uses you will get.
3. What you are cooking is very important. For example, frying plain vegetables will keep the oil much cleaner than if you fry foods that are heavily coated in batter or flour.

Check your oil before you reuse. If there is an unusual smell or color, dispose.

Are Tree Nuts, Soy, Peanuts or Gluten in the facility where the fats are processed or jarred?

Yes, however if you are allergic to those let us put your mind at ease. We use a shared facility but we never share the facility with anyone else the day that we render. Here's how it works... Let's say that a soup company was making a soup on Monday, well, after they are done making their soup the kitchen is required to sanitized all the kettles and surface areas and remove all product from the kitchen area. If the next day Fatworks is doing a rendering of Leaf Lard, the kitchen is REQUIRED to sanitize the kettles and surfaces before beginning the rendering. So, in short, the whole kitchen is sanitized TWICE before we do anything in the kitchen. If you are worried about cross contamination it is highly unlikely!

Dang! The jar lid is totally stuck, what can I do?

Those healthy fats giving you a healthy forearm workout? Means you probably got a bit of fat in the threads of your jar. Running the lid and jar under hot water for a minute should do the trick. You can also purchase one of our Fatworks jar grips. After all there's a reason we make them.

How do you dispose of used fat?

Restaurants recycle theirs so you can too. It can be cleaned and used in the production of biodiesel fuel. Many municipalities will now accept cooking oil for this recycling purpose. You may even find a friendly restaurant that will accept your used fat and include it with their oil recycling. If circumstances make recycling difficult for you then put it in a sealed non-recyclable container and throw it in the trash. (Not recommended).

Where does your product originate?

From farms that we know and trust to do it right! We source exclusively from USA with the exception of our Japanese Wagyu which is from Peru. (Just keeping you on your toes, it is of course sourced from Japan.) We then render and filter all of our products in Colorado, Arizona or New York. As an aside, we love the idea of sourcing locally but we love making the best fat possible more. At times these two noble ideals conflict. When they do, making the best quality fat products always trumps sourcing locally.

*In 2022, due to a shortage caused by the pandemic we had to source some Organic pork from Canada.

Can I feed it to my pet?

Only if you love them. Dogs and cats adore Grass Fed Tallow, Pastured Duck Fat and Pastured Leaf Lard. It's natural that they would. It's well known that cats and dogs in the wild always go for the fatty bits first.

Here's what we recommend you do. Cut back a bit on your pet's food then add a tablespoon or two of Fatworks Grass Fed Tallow to the mix and you'll have a very happy friend. We have a customer who wrote us, "I've mixed Tallow into our cat's food and her coat went from being dull to shiny and jet black (like a shampoo commercial!) If you have a pet story of your own please let us know.

Recipes

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Do you have a recipe page and can I submit a recipe?

Understanding the benefits of using traditional fat is one thing but ultimately it doesn't do much good if you don't know how it use them. That's why we are working on a project to create a library of recipes exclusively dedicated to traditional fat. We working with food and health bloggers, chefs and most importantly, Fatworkers to create this database. If you have a recipe that you would like to share please contact us and we will send you instructions about where to send your pictures and the text. Any recipe that we use will earn you a free jar of fat of your choice. For fat-tastic recipe ideas go here.

How does the Duck Confit ship?

The confit is shipped Frozen and will arrive Frozen or partial thawed. We have done extensive testing and even kept the product at room temp for a week and it is still perfectly safe to eat so if your product does not arrive perfectly frozen that is ok as it is pre cooked, vaccuum packed and protected by the layer of fat.

Skincare

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Is your Tallow Based skincare Organic?

Yes. Mostly. We feel what you put on your body is as important as what you put in your body. Our skincare products are not certified Organic but many of the ingredients are organically certified. There are certain products that are not certified "Organic" such as the Wildcrafted ingredients. None of the ingredients contain pesticides, GMO's, hormones or antibiotics.

Why are there seed oils in the skincare

We set about to make the best skin care that we could make. It is easy for a Fatworker to purchase a jar of our Fatworks Grass-Fed Tallow and make their own DIY tallow balm by adding essential oils and whipping it, and many of our customers do just that. However, our goal with our skincare line was to formulate the best skincare products as possible with tallow being just one important ingredient within a balanced blend. We did not allow ourselves to be swayed by an ideology that says that plant-based products are inherently bad in the same way we wish certain activists would not malign animal products. The results we feel are excellent and much better than tallow alone (which we tested as a control product.) It is important to note that industrialized seed oils, which we have been fighting against for over ten years, are different than botanical oils and butters and we hope that people do not conflate the two.

Does Tallow Skincare Smell like Beef Fat?

A little. The trick is to find some good essential oils to cover up any beef smell and we have done a good job doing that. Of course using fresh tallow from 100% Grass-Fed suet helps keep the smell from being noticeable. We understand that smell is an important part of skincare for some, but our skincare is much more geared for people who want serious results and healing some their skincare.

Is the Tallow that you use in your Skincare the same as the Grass Fed Tallow you make and sell in the jars?

Yes. We take the same Grass-Fed Tallow that we sell in the jars or buckets and send that to our skincare production team to make the skincare.

The skincare has a "pilly" or "grainy" feel to it, is this normal?

This is normal. It doesn't happen with every batch but if your skincare seems to have little "beads" or is "grainy", that is due to the way the tallow "set". Tallow is comprised of all the main fatty acids, but it is mostly saturated fat and when the tallow "sets", which just means when it goes from liquid state to solid state, sometimes the saturated fat cools quicker than the other fatty acids surrounding it and this causes little beads of saturated fat to form. But, have no fear this is a superficial issue, which is to say that it is literally an issue that is only skin deep. When rubbing the product on your skin the little beads simply melt away and absorb into your skin just the same as if they were never there.

Do you use any artificial ingredients in your Skincare?

We never use synthetic chemicals, GMOs, toxins, fillers, artificial colors or artificial fragrances in our skincare.

My first order was different than my second order. What gives?

With natural skincare there is much less homogenization of the base ingredients. We use Grass-Fed Tallow, which varies seasonally in color, smell, and texture, as well as Wildcrafted botanicals and butters which vary seasonally as well. The result is that while each batch will be equally effective batch they will be uniquely fat-tastic in their own way.

Ordering

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How long will it take to get an order?

We ship Monday through Friday. If you order on the weekend your order will ship Monday. We typically ship 48 hours after we recieve your order and normally sooner. The exception is if we are out of a product. We are working on our inventory system to sync with our warehouse a bit better but we have found that we are overselling products from time to time. If you do not receive your order confirmation within 48 hours please contact us via email or phone (720-438-4530) and we can help see what is causing the delay.

Is local pick-up available?

If you are in the Englewood Colorado area and wish to pick up you locally can but there is a 5 dollar charge as the fulfillment center charges us $5 for each pick up. If you wish to pick up in Englewood CO, please call us at 720-438-4530 and we will put in your order over the phone then contact the fulfillment center and let them know you will be arriving.

Do you sell in stores?

Yes, as of March 2014 Fatworks Premium Grass Fed Tallow is USDA approved, which means that we now sell wholesale to grocery stores, coops and restaurants. It a travesty but the natural stores such as Sprouts and Whole Foods have opted to bring in our copy cat competitor from General Mills, but strangely we are sold in Walmarts across the country. We are also in several independent CO-OP's and stores across the country. To see if we are in a store near you please click here to go to our FAT FINDER We also sell direct from our Fatworks Store. If you wish to see us in a store near you please contact your local retailer and let us know as well so we can call them! Get us in a new store and we will send you a jar of fat!

I purchased my product "Pre-order". What does this mean and when will I get my order?

On some of our products we may be slightly back-ordered. We don't want to say sold out because we are constantly rendering new batches, however if you order something on a pre-order you will have to wait 2-4 weeks. We generally run our pre-orders as a sale to help ease the pain of waiting.

Where do we sell our fats?

Currently we are selling our pure premium products at www.fatworks.com and in stores throughout the US. Our "FAT FINDER" link on our home page lists the stores and locations that sell our traditional cooking oils.

Do you ship outside of the US?

If you will pay for the shipping we will try and ship it to you. We have had great success shipping to our Fatworkers in Canada, but we must be honest, it is not cheap to ship our orders outside the U.S. It's best to get some friends together and purchase in bulk. Just contact us and we can try to make some special arrangements because we're cool like that. (Anything to spread the fat!)

Wholesale/Private Label/Affiliate Program

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How do I contact you for wholesale opportunities?

You go here and we will contact you right away. We are always interested in exploring relationships with Natural and Gourmet Markets, High Quality Restaurant, Co-ops and Crossfit or other gyms. Any organization or person who understands the value of traditional healthy fats is someone we want to meet!

I have a restaurant, co-op, CSA, fitness gym, etc. and I want to buy your fat, what do I need to do?

Send us an email with the subject headings, "I'm a Fatworker too!" Or, if you would prefer to send us an email without a cheesy subject heading, that's perfectly ok too. Either way the email address is fattalk@fatworksfoods.com

Do you have an affiliate program?

Yes. We call it our "Affila-fat" program. (Actually we don't call it that and don't expect you to either.) Affiliate programs are a wonderful way to get the word out. We believe that food and health bloggers are the single most important resource for spreading the word about traditional fat. Just contact us and we can set something up.

I have a blog or company and would like to do a giveaway. Would you be interested?

Teaming up with bloggers for giveaways and promotions is one of our favorite things to do. We would be very interested in doing something with you provided we love what you are doing. Let us know what you have in mind. Again, we will only do promotions with people we respect. That being said, we have found most people with a natural health or food blog are exactly the type of people we want to work with to promote natural, healthy fat.


Do you Private Label or White Label your fats?

Sure do. We can make USDA inspected Private Label Lard Tallow or Ghee. We have a minimum of 1200 lbs and are happy to discuss packaging and pricing with you for your big fat project.

What is the benefit of Grass-Fed Tallow for Skincare

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Are your Products Halal or Kosher

Fatworks products are not Certified Halal or Kosher. We use pork products and though we sanitize our kettles between runs, the powers that be do not accept this as good enough and need a seperate dedicated facility which was do not have the resources for. If you need a certified Halal or Kosher product this is not the product for you, however if you are ok with products that are pork free but not certified as such our Tallow, Ghee and Poultry Fats will work well for you as we do not mix any of our fats.

Is your plant certified gluten or nuts free?

Our fat products are not certified as nut free or gluten free. If you need this certification for piece of mind we understand, however we do not have gluten or nuts in our facilities. We have never had an issue with people with nut or gluten allergies as there is neither nuts not gluten in our products, but we have not had the facilities certified as such.

Regarding our Duck Bone Broths please make sure you look at the ingredients to determine if they are gluten free. Most are.

Why don't you have Keto or Paleo Certification

As earily adopters of both the Paleo and Keto movements we know how picky people living that lifestyle can. That being said, if you don't understand that real animal fat is inherently Keto (and literally the most Keto thing in the world) then you may need to go back and do a little research as to what Keto is all about. Certifications are great for companies making "Keto" and "Paleo" cookies and breads where there could be some doubt, but are not relavant for real, whole foods. Fatworkers are smart enough to know that real fat is both Keto and Paleo (and Carnivore for that matter.)

Learn Your Lard

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What is Lard?

Praise the Lard! That's our motto and we're sticking with it. Of course, for years we, as a society, were told the exact opposite, that lard was nothing short of a heart attack in a jar. There is some truth to the fact that the lard that was being sold on shelves was hydrogenated garbage that probably didn[t do any one any favors. Fatworks wanted to created an alternative to the chemical bricks of hydrogenated fat found in grocery stores while helping small family farms find an outlet for their previous fat (even if no one thought it was precious except for us).

The Pasture Raised lard we make is primary fat found in lard is oleic acid.  Oleic acid has been shown to decrease depression, lower cancer risk and balance cholesterol.

Why Do We Call Our Fats, "Cooking Oil" and Can They Be Used for other Purposes?

It's important to remember that when we started Fatworks, animal fat was maligned and villainized to the point that the general public no longer knew how to use them! The way we viewed, and still view our products, is as an alternative to the industrialized seed oils that took over from the 1950's on. Therefore, we wanted to make sure people understood our fats could be used as a replacement for the industrialized seed oils that they were using as their cooking oil. This in no way means that we do anything special to them to make them specifically "cooking oil". They are fine-filtered to be pure and great as a cooking oil but for example, lard is the original "shortening" and our lards work great as shortenings for baking as well. Additionally, our Grass-Fed Tallow "cooking oil" is simply well sourced and fine-filtered tallow that is perfect for cooking, soapmaking, skincare, candle-making and much more.

What Do you Feed Your Pork?

All hogs sourced by Fatworks for our Pasture-Raised Pork Lard and Pasture-Raised Leaf Lard graze on natural, non-GMO pasture and are never treated with hormones or antibiotics is sourced from pigs that root and wallow in pastures and forested areas of the farm from which we source. Because they are not ruminants and can not thrive on grass, the hogs are supplemented with non-GMO, custom-mix feed ration containing probiotics and nutrients. The hogs never receive antibiotics, synthetic hormones, harsh pesticides or GMOs, or vaccine. All our Pasture-Raised pork is born, raised and harvested in the USA.

Our Organic Pork is raised by farmers that adhere to the strict regulations of Organic standards. There are no antibiotics, synthetic hormones, harsh pesticides or GMOs or vaccines. Only organic feed is given. Annual third-party facility inspections for adherence to Good Manufacturing Practices are mandatory.

Our Wild Boar Lard is field harvested with a mobile unit from overpopulated forest, then processed onsite under government inspection. They are truly wild and feral swine.

Still have questions?

Contact us