In a beautiful example of letting nothing go to waste, Dorper Lamb’s Warren and Marina Wiggins have created a skincare range out of tallow. Kidney fat taken from the back of the lamb is melted down then allowed to solidify, a little Grumpy Grandma’s olive oil and essential oils – lemon myrtle, lavender – added to it, and voila, a skin moisturiser!
Traditionally associated with candle-making and the tin of dripping by many post-war stoves, tallow is a natural inflammatory, a powerhouse of the vitamins A, D, E and K, and, Warren tells me, very good for skin eczema, acne and arthritis. ‘Chefs,’ he says, ‘are swinging back to natural fats as opposed to seed and plant ones. The goodness out of animal fats is better for you.’
In the beginning, Warren says, he took the cream to the markets to gauge public reaction. ‘People were very open to it’, he tells me. ‘Now I’m going through 24 bottles of it a week! It absorbs instantly,’ he continues, sounding for all the world like a television commercial. ‘It clears up tinea overnight and all foot fungi. It’s a good natural moisturiser, both a day and a night cream.’
He himself is a walking advertisement for the moisturiser. Having long had an arthritic knee, he’s now walking limp-free. In addition, he and Marina have produced a soap made out of the tallow, soon to be available at the markets as well. ‘The soap,’ Warren tells me, ‘lathers up so much.’ He’s been using it for the past few weeks to wash his hair and ‘it’s amazing! So much better than shampoo!’
So now, apart from Warren’s glorious lamb – organic, hormone-free, grass-fed in a stress-free environment – you can buy the body moisturiser at his farmers’ market stall along with cooking tallow – and soon the soap.
Dorper Lamb is at New Brighton every Tuesday from 8 – 11am and at Mullumbimby every Friday from 7 – 11am
Victoria Cosford
