What Is Tallow Triglyceride?

A triglyceride is a compound where one molecule of the alcohol glycerol, HOCH2CH(OH)CH2OH, combines with three molecules of fatty acids. Triglycerides are the main components of vegetable oils and animal fats and provide plants and animals with energy reserves for all metabolic activities. Tallow triglycerides are found in tallow, the end product of suet―which is raw beef, mutton or bovine fat―after the suet has been melted, simmered, strained and cooled repetitively.

Physical Properties

• Fats are organic, natural substances and are not soluble in water. Having lower density than water, fats float in it. At room temperature, liquid fats are known as oils, while solids are termed fats or butters, their respective melting points varying with the particularities of chemical composition. In a process known as saponification, with the aid of sodium hydroxide, tallow triglyceride is pulled apart, freeing the backbone glycerol molecule and producing a sodium salt known as sodium tallowate, one of the main ingredients of the household product called soap.

At or About 1300 A.D.

• In the City of London, around 1300, oynters―these are tallow melters―formed the Tallow Chandlers Company which among other products made candles from tallow. By the year 1415, tallow candles lit the streets of London, its homes, and in 1462 King Edward IV granted the Tallow Chandlers Company full livery status. Livery Companies in London are guilds that regulate and police the trades they represent. For the next 300+ years, tallow was well-positioned as an industrial resource. When overtaken by spermaceti, paraffin wax, the kerosene lamp and finally electricity, tallow continued to hang on as it continued to be used in the manufacture of soap. In 1853, the tax on tallow was cut to facilitate soap's availability in the interest of public health.

Tallow Today

• Today, tallow has a market position as a resource for the production of biodiesel and other oleochemicals. Biodiesel, a processed fuel from biological sources, constitutes an alternative to petroleum-based fuel and is used around the world in many countries including the United States, Austria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Malaysia and Sweden. Shifting to biodiesel presents environmental hazards such as deforestation trends and disruptions to ecological balance. However, the foreseeable impact on global warming is dramatic, potentially reducing emissions by more than 50%.

The Benefits of Saturated Fats

• There's even good news regarding dietary fats. Fats provide building blocks for cell membranes and hormones and hormone-like substances. Fats are needed for mineral absorption and proper utilization of essential fatty acids and are carriers of fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K. For calcium to be effectively absorbed, at least 50% of dietary fat should be saturated. Saturated fatty acids enhance the immune system and help protect the digestive tract from harmful microorganisms and the liver from alcohol and other toxins.

Heart Disease

• What then of our fears of high triglycerides and their presumed link to atherosclerosis, a leading cause of death in modern society? Dr. Mary Enig, in "Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats," asserts emphatically that between 1910 to 1970 when heart disease rose from a rarity to 40% of all deaths, it wasn't our consumption of saturated fats that increased. She notes, "the percentage of dietary vegetable oils in the form of margarine, shortening and refined oils increased about 400% while the consumption of sugar and processed foods increased about 60%."