Care · Autumn and winter
Whipped Tallow Butter
The softer body butter. Tallow loosened with olive oil, still unscented, for arms, legs, and winter shins.
This is how our household cooks, washes, and thinks. It is not medical advice, and it is not a substitute for a midwife or a doctor.
20 minutes · About 1 ¼ cups
“Whatever you do, do it from the heart, as something done for the Lord and not for people.”
Ingredients
- 1 cup rendered beef tallow, solid
- ¼ cup olive oil
Method
- 1
Use tallow that is already rendered, strained, and dry. Melt it with the olive oil over the lowest heat, just until the tallow disappears. Do not fry it.
- 2
Pour it into a bowl and cool it until it is opaque and thick, like soft icing. If you whip it while it is still liquid, it will not hold air.
- 3
Whip until pale and fluffy. If the kitchen is hot and it slumps, set the bowl in the refrigerator for ten minutes and whip again.
- 4
Jar it. The olive oil makes it spread on cold skin more easily than plain tallow. It is still unscented, so children can use it. Keep it covered and cool.
From the kitchen
- If you want lavender, make the lavender tallow butter in its own jar. Do not scent this one. Children can use the plain butter. They should not use the lavender.
- Olive oil is the right oil here. A seed oil does not belong in a balm any more than it belongs in the pan.
My note
Kept on this device, beside the recipe, for the next time you cook it.
Alongside this
Care
Plain Tallow
Rendered beef tallow, whipped and nothing else. This is the fat for faces and for children. No scent.
20 minutes, plus rendering if the tallow is not already clean
Care
Lavender Tallow Butter
The same whipped tallow and olive oil, with a small amount of lavender essential oil. An adult jar. Not the family one.
20 minutes
Care
Firm Tallow Balm
Beeswax makes a balm that stays put. Hands, heels, and cuticles, especially when the house is dry.
25 minutes