How We Render Our Tallow: The Process, the Source, and the Reason It Matters

Tallow quality starts with two things: the source of the fat, and the way it’s rendered.

Ours begins in Montana grasslands, with suet fat sourced through Old Salt Co-op and rendered locally in Bozeman. That matters because rendering is not just a manufacturing step. It determines how the fat is handled, how much of its natural integrity is preserved, and what kind of ingredient it becomes by the time it reaches a jar.

We’ve built this part of our supply chain the same way we’ve built the rest of the brand: Close to home, rooted in relationships, and centered on ingredient quality from the start. Our rendering process reflects the same Montana partners, real relationships, and emphasis on quality and transparency.

Why the Rendering Process Matters

Not all rendered tallow is the same.

You can start with good fat, but if the rendering process is too aggressive, the final ingredient will reflect that. Heat, handling, additives, and purification all shape the quality of the finished tallow.

That’s why we use a wet rendering process.

Wet rendering uses water and low heat to separate the fat, rather than exposing it to unnecessarily high temperatures. This low heat method helps preserve the natural state of the tallow, along with the nutrients and beneficial fatty acids that make it valuable in the first place.

When tallow is rendered this way, the result is stable, purified, and well suited for topical use. Since tallow is the base of our products, that process matters. The quality of the final balm starts with the quality of the rendered fat.

It also means no additives, chemicals, bleaching or deodorizers. 

Our Tallow Is Rendered in Bozeman, Montana

We partner with a local company, V Bar, in Bozeman, Montana to render our tallow.

Keeping that process in Montana matters to us for the same reason Montana sourcing matters to us everywhere else: it keeps the ingredient supply chain close, traceable, and connected to real people and real standards.

We’re not interested in treating tallow like an interchangeable commodity ingredient. We want to know where it came from, who handled it, and how it was processed.

Working with a local rendering partner allows that part of the process to stay visible and consistent. It keeps the transformation of the raw suet into finished tallow that is of the highest quality, and aligns with our standards.

Why We Use Wet Rendered Tallow

Wet rendering is a specific choice.

By using water and lower temperatures, this method preserves more of the tallow’s natural integrity than rendering methods that rely on higher heat or chemical additives. For skincare, that matters because tallow is valuable for what it already contains: naturally occurring fatty acids and nutrients that support the skin.

The idea is simple: tallow contains everything it needs. Our job is to render it into a pure ingredient allowing it to do its job for the skin. 

The goal is to start with excellent fat and render it in a way that keeps it as close as possible to its natural state, while producing a clean, stable, finished tallow.

That’s why wet rendering is such an important part of our process. It supports the quality of the ingredient without relying on high heat or chemicals to get there.

The end result is a pure, minimally processed, nutrient preserved tallow. An important clarification point- wet rendering introduces water to remove impurities, but through the process the water is removed, leaving no water in the finished tallow. 

Why We Choose Suet Tallow

We use suet tallow specifically.

Suet is the fat found around the kidneys and loins, and it’s considered the most pure and nutrient-dense form of tallow on the animal.

That distinction matters because not all beef fat is the same. Trimming fat from other parts of the animal can also be rendered into tallow, but suet is more pure, nutrient dense, and fast absorbing. It produces a higher quality finished fat, which is exactly what we want as the base of our skincare products.

This is one of the most important choices in our supply chain.

Because when the starting material is more pure, the rendered tallow is more clean, more consistent, and better suited for skincare applications. If tallow is the foundation of the formula, then suet is the best place to begin.

The Montana Source Behind Our Tallow

Our suet fat comes through Old Salt Co-op in Montana.

We're committed to not just Montana sourcing, but regenerative animal practice; Because tallow reflects the animal it came from, the land that animal was raised on, and the standards behind the ranching operation.

Old Salt Co-op is comprised of regenerative Montana ranches who are producing beef with a strong emphasis on stewardship, transparency, and long term land health. That kind of sourcing gives us confidence in the raw material before rendering ever begins.

It also keeps our ingredient supply chain rooted in the place we call home, and supports those who are invested in soil health, and maintaining the culture of Montana ranching.

For us, Montana sourcing is not just a line on a label. It means the tallow in our products is tied to ranches, landscapes, and people we trust and want to support. It means the ingredient has a real point of origin and not a distributor.

You can read more about the ranches behind Old Salt, and our suet sourcing here.

Why Regenerative Sourcing Matters

We care about regenerative tallow because ranching practices shape ingredient quality.

Regenerative systems are built around stewardship of the land: supporting soil health, managing forage well, improving water retention, keeping grasslands productive over time, and caring for watersheds. These are long term practices, not short term extraction, and that thought process matters.

Healthy pasture supports healthy animals, healthy land, and healthy humans. Healthy animals also produce better fat. When cattle are raised in systems that prioritize land health and grazing management, that's where quality of the tallow begins.

For us, regenerative sourcing is part of ingredient quality, not something separate from it.

It’s one of the reasons we’ve chosen to source through a Montana network that values how cattle are raised, how land is managed, and how those choices carry through to the finished product. 

Why Grass-Finished Tallow Matters

We use tallow from 100% grass-fed and grass-finished cattle.

Grass-finished means the cattle are raised and finished on forage, in pastures, rather than being switched to grain, and confined to a feedlot. That forage-based diet produces a different kind of fat, that is measurably richer in all the things that makes tallow beneficial. And for us, it’s the kind of fat we want at the foundation of our skincare.

Grass-finished tallow is naturally rich in beneficial fatty acids and nutrients that help make tallow such a useful ingredient for skin in the first place. 

If the animal was raised well, on pasture, in a system built around healthy forage and sound grazing practices, the quality of the fat reflects that. The rendering process preserves that quality, but it can’t create it from nothing. It has to begin with the right source.

A Supply Chain Built to Keep the Ingredient Intact

Every step matters.

The ranchers and their practices, the animals and the land they come from, and our rendering partner.

None of those pieces are interchangeable to us.

We don’t view tallow as a commodity, that arrives in a bucket. But as the accumulation of years of stewardship, planning, and care for the land. We view it as the foundation of the product, which means its purity, source, and rendering all matter.

That’s why we’ve chosen Montana sourced suet from Old Salt Co-op, and why we partner with a local Montana company to have it rendered.

Each of those decisions supports the same outcome: a clean, stable, nutrient-dense tallow that stays close to its natural state, making it the perfect base for our skincare.

Keeping Montana in the Process

We want Montana in the product, not as a marketing line. Our goal is to provide the highest quality tallow products, but it's about more than that. We also want to support Montana ranches investing into healthy land, strong communities and Montana ranching culture and heritage.

That means sourcing our suet from Montana ranchers, regeneratively raising, grass-finished cattle. And it means partnering with a local company in Bozeman to wet render that tallow using a low heat process that preserves its natural state.

That’s the system behind the ingredient.

And that’s the reason we talk about this supply chain at all: because the process determines the quality.