Our Tallow

Tallow is the first ingredient in everything we make, so it's where we're most particular. Here's exactly how ours is sourced, rendered and handled, from the farm to your jar.

Why tallow comes first

Most skincare is a cheap base carrying a little of something expensive. We built FATSKN the other way around. Grass-fed, grass-finished tallow is structurally close to your skin's own oils, naturally carries fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K, and as a stable saturated fat, resists oxidation. Which means the tallow itself has to be perfect.

Sourcing: grass-fed, grass-finished suet from regenerative Alberta farms

We use suet, the firm fat from around the kidneys, from a selection of regenerative Alberta farms.

"Grass-fed" can mean an animal ate grass for part of its life and grain at the end (in fact, it's 80% of the beef that is available everywhere). Grass-finished means grass the whole way through. That's the only kind we buy, and every batch traces back to the farm it came from. (If you're looking for amazing grass-finished beef sources in Alberta, these farms are worth checking out!)

Current Partner Ranches:

• Trails End Beef, Nanton, AB
• Peony Farms, Lacombe, AB
• Morningside Ranches, Lacombe, AB
• Vanderkley Valley Farms, Eckville, AB

Rendering: dry-rendered once, low and slow

Caitlin renders every batch herself, starting from frozen suet. Some ranches provide the suet already ground, but in some cases Caitlin also does the grinding itself. It's important to grind the fat before rendering as large pieces render unevenly and the risk of overcooking is high. Dry rendering means no water is added; the fat slowly melts out on its own. We render once, at low heat, which keeps the smell mild enough that we never need to deodorize or refine it. (In Caitlin's opinion, the "triple-refining" the some brands mention is undesirable because it damages the delicate fats that should be kept intact. She believes it is only done to compensate for poorly-rendered fat, or fat that was a by-product of bone-broth or cooking process.

Why we don't deodorize our tallow

Many brands strip tallow's smell with extra steps like repeated wet rendering, salt washes or refining. Each one is more processing between the farm and your skin. We'd rather get the rendering right the first time.

What that means in your jar: a faint, clean scent, and slight variation in shade from batch to batch. That's what unrefined tallow looks like.

Filtering: cotton and steel only

Every batch is strained through stainless steel mesh and organic cotton cheesecloth. Never plastic or nylon mesh. We don't want plastic touching hot fat. Nylon releases small plastic compounds into food when heated above 70°C (158°F), which is why Germany's food safety agency advises keeping it away from hot food. Freshly rendered tallow is above that, so ours only touches cotton and stainless steel.

Contact surfaces: stainless steel, never silicone

Freshly rendered tallow is poured into stainless steel chafing pans to cool and set. Silicone spatulas are fine for handling, but hot tallow never sets in silicone. Silicone releases small amounts of compounds called siloxanes into fat, and heat and long contact increase that. A spatula touches our tallow for seconds. A cooling pan holds it for hours. So the pan is stainless steel.

Cleaning: no Dawn, ever

Everything that touches our tallow is cleaned with baking soda, hot water and unscented dish soap. Fat picks up what it touches, so no conventional dish soap and no fragrance residue.

Packaging: stainless, glass and paperboard

Our products go into stainless tins, glass, and US-made paperboard tubes with a food-grade liner, poured at low temperature.

Made by hand since 2019

FATSKN started with one product in 2019 (Purist Body Butter). Caitlin still makes every batch, because the details on this page only hold if the person responsible for them is standing at the stove. About Caitlin.

Questions to ask any tallow brand

• Is it grass-finished, or just grass-fed?
• Is it deodorized or refined, and how?
• Is it wet- or dry-rendered, and how many times?
• What is it filtered through?
• What does the hot tallow touch?
• What is it packaged in?

A brand that can answer all of these is worth your trust. We wrote ours down so you don't have to ask.

FAQ

Does it smell like beef?
Barely. Low, slow, single rendering keeps the scent faint without deodorizing. We love pairing it with cacao butter so it smells like chocolate, or resins for gentle smells.

Why does my jar look slightly different from my last one?
Unrefined tallow varies a little by farm and season. It's a sign nothing was stripped out.

What's the difference between suet and tallow?
Suet is the highly saturated fat from around the organs. Tallow refers to all fat from the animal, including the trim fats, which have a different fat profile (higher in unsaturated fats). 

Where is it made?
Sourced from Alberta farms and made in Caitlin's Calgary, Alberta studio. We ship to Canada and the US.