Nudj - Tallow
Pharaoh Seti I and his son Rameses II subdue the sacred bull. In his temple, the "Mansion of the Gods" at Abydos, Egypt. March 2018 photo by author.
ABOUT OUR COSMETIC GRADE TALLOW
The ancient Egyptians utilized tallow (which they called "Adj," or "Nudj" as a cosmetic) for many purposes, but especially for it's emollient properties which have no equal for human skin, especially valuable in dry desert climates like the Sahara. The tallow from a sacred bull was used to create the fragrant temple unguent 'Madjet' as Egyptologist Sheilla Ann Byl tells us (citing Dr. Lise Manniche) in her paper "The Essence and Use of Perfume in Ancient Egypt" - 2012:
"The preparation of this essential ingredient was begun two years in advance. The fat of a specially chosen castrated bull, whose nostrils had not been pierced, was left in a stone vessel with a stopper in the temple treasury for a year. Before this bull had been slaughtered, to ensure it was physically and ritually clean, it had been washed in the sacred lake of the temple every morning and had its feet wrapped in palm fibres. After the fat had been in the treasury for a year, it could then be perfumed. It was then dyed red by the nesti plant, often translated as alkanet, based on references to it by the classical authors."
Tallow continued for millennia as a valuable commodity for cooking, for candles, and for cosmetics in every human society that raised cattle for food. Unfortunately, beef tallow has all but vanished from our collective vocabulary over the last 70 years. It was vilified in the 50’s and 60’s by vegetable oil producers as a cholesterol laden, artery clogging, and generally unhealthy fat when, in fact, it has now been proven to be one of the best and most nutritious oils to cook with – along with being doubly valuable for cosmetics. Thankfully, scientific research now suggests that tallow from grass fed cattle is actually quite beneficial to human health, both in our diet and in therapeutic skin care.
Truth be told, while tallow was being slammed as an unhealthy throwback of the past, it was - and still is - widely used all over the cosmetics and personal care marketplace under various names. Look closely and you will discover forms of cosmetic tallow lurking in the ingredient lists of many over-the-counter lipsticks, facial moisturizers, eye makeup, face foundations, shampoos, shaving creams, soaps and facial cleansers. Elements of tallow are frequently used under the names Stearic Acid, Lauric Acid, Myristic Acid, Oleic Acid, Palmitic Acid and Sodium Tallowate.
While using tallow in everyday products is definitely not a bad thing, using conventionally-farmed tallow definitely is, especially in conjunction with the preservatives and other synthetic chemical compounds and fragrances found in these products, which are often cumulatively toxic. This is why handcrafted 100% natural, organic products, such as those offered by "The Egyptian' Sacred Scents, are far superior health-wise in comparison to the corporated synthetic and toxic stuff found in stores.
Here we will discuss what tallow is, the history of tallow, why organic grass fed is better than conventional tallow as well as the health benefits of using tallow.
WHAT IS TALLOW?
Tallow is rendered suet, or fat that surrounds the organs of a cow or deer, typically the kidneys. Once heated, suet will liquefy into gold colored oil that separates from the tissues within the suet. At this liquid state, the fat is then strained through a filter to remove this solid material and any other impurities. Once cooled, tallow becomes hard like wax. Tallow is shelf-stable for over a year and can last for many years if frozen immediately after rendering. Cosmetic grade tallow has been so finely filtered that virtually no odor can be detected - although admittedly, dogs sure do love it!
BRIEF HISTORY OF TALLOW
Since ages untold, men and women used everything they had available to them, wasting nothing, and humans and cows have had a deep and abiding relationship going back into the hazy mists of time, becoming literally imprinted into the DNA of both species – man and beast.
Our ancestors, particularly the Egyptians, revered them, and considered every animal killed to be a mindful sacrifice – its spirit essence an offering to their deities, its material nutrients shared amongst each other, building their own bodies and keeping them healthy. It was a truly civilized culture, sustainable and in balance with nature, unlike the horrors we see today, perpetrated in the name of the bottom line and vacation homes for the obscenely wealthy.
Kitchens worldwide have used tallow to cook everything and anything from time immemorial, it being especially favored for frying foods and for adding flavor to soups and stews. Aside from its rich culinary flavor, tallow is a chef’s favorite because it is heat stable up to 400° F and rarely gets a rancid oil taste.
Tallow was also used by our ancestors to make candles, bar soaps, and especially skin salves and unguents; in fact, fragrant unguents using tallow were among the most sacred of offerings to the Egyptian gods and goddesses from proto-dynastic times (3500 BCE) on, also figuring greatly in their medical papyri.
Traditional wisdom was always well aware of the wonderful healing and emollient properties of tallow, and it was very commonly used in many cosmetics long before synthetic body care products came onto the mass marketing media machine after World War II.
BENEFITS OF GRASS FED TALLOW
Tallow from organic grass fed, grass-finished, pasture-raised cows is much different than that obtained from inhumane corporate “cow factories”, where the animals are subjected to filth, antibiotics, toxins, fear and pain all of their lives. Living grass fodder, fresh air, sunshine and physical exercise when allowed to graze naturally results in the mental well-being of the pasture-raised cow, which in turn provides a more dynamic production of vital nutrients inside the animal's body, as opposed to the physically weaker animal storing pharmaceuticals, toxins and stress/fear hormones in its fat.
Just as the human body stores nutrients in the fat for later use, so does the cow, thus a wealth of benefits hidden inside its fat or tallow when raised organically and humanely.
First and foremost, of all the naturally occurring organic oils, beef tallow is the most penetrating when applied to human skin, and this gives it it’s incredible deep moisturizing capabilities. Additionally, tallow is loaded with antioxidants, vitamins such as A, D and K, anti-microbial palmitoleic acid, and the anti-inflammatory essential fatty acid called CLA - Conjugated Linoleic Acid - which has been linked to cancer prevention, fat loss and improved brain function. (1) (2)
Being derived from an animal instead of plants, tallow is far closer in composition to our own cellular fats and oils, containing the same lipids found in the oils from cell samples taken from healthy, supple human skin. Thus, tallow is believed to prevent dryness at the cellular level without suffocating the skin's osmotic barrier like petroleum-based synthetic lotions do. Truly, tallow is one of – if not the most nutrient-dense skin-plumping emollients known to humankind!
Revered by traditional cultures for countless millennia, after 70 odd years of virtual obscurity tallow is finally making a big comeback.
The fact is, while there are a lot of natural organic plant-based oils used nowadays to moisturize skin, they simply do not penetrate as nearly as deep as tallow. Coconut oil is probably the most popular among natural products minded folks, but it’s actually a very light moisturizer and sinks in very quickly. While that appeals to a lot of people and is fine for some, it just doesn’t cut it for those with very dry or damaged skin, since it does not moisturize deeply enough or provide the complex cellular nutrients.
Argan oil is quite a bit better, and West African shea butter perhaps comes closest to tallow (both of which we use in our unguent products), but they do not have the full arsenal of the animal essential fatty acids we humans share with cows.
“Modern-day research confirms the traditional wisdom of our ancestors. From biology, we know that the cell membrane is made up primarily of fatty acids, a double layer, to be exact. Saturated fats constitute at least 50 percent of the cell membrane. Since saturated fats tend to be more solid than unsaturated fats at a given temperature, they help give the cell membrane its necessary stiffness and integrity for proper function.” ~ Sally Fallon (3)
As such, organic grass-fed tallow plainly deserves to take its rightful place in our lives again, not only as a cooking oil, but especially for therapeutic skin care.
WHERE WE GET OUR TALLOW
Our tallow comes from Fannie and Flo, the Finch sisters of Michigan, www.fannieandflo.net, who use time honored traditional kettle batch methods passed down in their family for generations. Here is their statement “addressing the most common concerns”:
“… natural fats are where true “Organic” REALLY DOES matter. We all try to make the healthiest possible choices and are fast returning to the basics of sustainability. We understand that excess “fat soluble” toxins and chemicals can and will be stored in fat. Common sense alone dictates that the fewer toxins any animal (or person) is exposed to, the fewer toxins will be stored in it’s fat. Argue the pros and cons as we may, true organically raised animals simply consume and store fewer toxins.
Our “Beef Tallow” is 100% rendered organic beef suet (kidney fat). The fats that we render are from small family farms, members of the Organic Valley Farmers Co-op producing certified organic products. The livestock is raised without antibiotics, synthetic hormones or pesticide exposure. They are seasonally grazed, and not given feed containing GMOs. We take pride that since August 2015 all of our tallow comes from 100% grass fed and finished beef. We render in two licensed kitchens, inspected and certified (MI and WI) for safe food production.”
Needless to say, until such time as I can secure a more local source for tallow produced with such generational experience and high standards, Fannie and Flo are my go-to gals for tallow!
And so, with the blessings of ancient traditional wisdom, agreement with scientific research, and from my own personal experiences and those of others, I’m satisfied in saying that you will simply love the tallow-based Egyptian Unguents offered exclusively by 'The Egyptian' Sacred Scents. Try them. I am positive you will agree! Simply put... tallow is truly magickal!
(1) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8039138
(2) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2846864/
(3) Sally Fallon and Mary G. Enig, Phd. – Nourishing Traditions , New Trends Publishing