What does "fresh when frozen" mean? Does hanging time mean it's not fresh?

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January 28, 2022

When we think about the quality of meat, freshness usually comes to mind. But, what is “fresh” meat anyway?

I mean, meat needs to cool and age. And, when you go to a butcher or a grocery store, the fresh cuts behind the glass or wrapped in plastic may have been sitting there for days… or even a week. I wouldn’t call that “fresh”. But, since the meat has never been frozen, it’s sold as “fresh”.

On the flip side, there’s frozen meat. I don’t know exactly why, but there’s a definite cultural bias against frozen meat. I’ve done a good amount of research on this and have come to the conclusion that frozen meat is superior. Here’s 5 reasons why you want frozen meat.

You might be thinking, what about nutritional loss? Some people think that frozen meat has less nutritional value compared to fresh meat. Not true! When packaged and frozen properly, frozen meat can have greater nutritional value compared to fresh meat.

But, I digress. Let’s get to the “meat” of the answers here….

What does “fresh when frozen” mean?

“Fresh when frozen” means that the meat was put in the freezer ASAP, definitely within 24 hours of butchering. It was frozen when it was as fresh as possible.

The size of the cut affects how long it takes to freeze completely. The bigger the cut, the longer it takes.

What is hanging meat?

After the animal is slaughtered and the carcass is clean, meat needs to cool thoroughly and/or hang. “Hanging” is a literal term. The carcass is attached to a hook and hung in a clean, sanitary, and very cold cooler.

Does hanging meat mean it's not fresh?

No, absolutely not! Hanging meat is integral to producing the highest quality, best tasting meat. How “fresh” meat is starts just after it’s butchered.

Why does meat need to hang?

When meat hangs, the enzymes naturally present in the meat do their magic and break down the fibers of the muscles, making them softer and more elastic. This improves the flavor, texture, and tenderness of meat.

The meat also loses water when hanging. Water loss concentrates the flavor, makes the meat more tender and juicy, and allows it to freeze better (ice crystals can cause damage when freezing meat).

The culinary result of hanging meat is tender and tasty meat. Believe me, you would not want to eat beef, pork, or lamb that wasn’t hung for an appropriate amount of time. It would be dry and tough and have less flavor.

How long does meat need to cool and/or hang for?

This varies, depending on the type of animal:

Beef: 10-14 days (cooling & hanging time)
Pork: 4-5 days (cooling & hanging time)
Lamb: 4-5 days (cooling & hanging time)
Chicken: 1 day (cooling time)
Turkey: 1 day (cooling time)

What about Histamine Intolerance or Mast Cell Activation Syndrome?

These are both conditions that can make a body overreact to histamines or not be able to adequately control histamine levels. The typical result is allergy symptoms, which can make life pretty miserable.

People with these conditions are often advised to avoid foods high in histamines. Histamines in food are present due to many factors including the animal’s stress level, aging time, preparation and cooking methods… there are so many factors! Hanging time is certainly a big factor, too.

Since you really wouldn’t want to eat meat that wasn’t aged an appropriate amount of time, my recommendation to folks with these conditions is to simply avoid or limit your beef, pork, and lamb intake… especially beef, since it’s aged the longest. And, if you do eat beef, pork, or lamb, keep it frozen and cook immediately after thawing. Chicken and turkey will likely agree with you always.

Do you prefer fresh or frozen meat? What matters most to you when choosing your source of meats for your family?

Raw milk or fermented dairy and lactose intolerance. Why might it help?

I was misinformed. At some point, I read that raw milk contains lactase. As it turns out, this is not true! It is true that raw milk contains many live enzymes that are inactivated during pasteurization. But, what about lactase? I’ve heard many anecdotal stories from people who are lactose intolerant... but can handle raw milk or fermented dairy. If raw milk, yogurt, kefir, or cheese doesn’t contain lactase, then why is that?

Our bone broth tested negative-ish for heavy metals 🥳 NATURAL AND CLEAN

Over the past few months a bunch of people asked us if we tested our bone broth for toxic heavy metals. When we get the same question a lot, we of course look into it. My first question was --- Is there an issue with toxic metals in bone broth? As it turns out, yes, there "can" be an issue! Heavy metals are naturally present in our environment. We need the "good" heavy metals to thrive: iron, zinc, magnesium, copper, etc. But, we can 100% do without the toxic heavy metals: arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury, etc. Too many toxic heavy metals can lead to a host of pretty awful issues: nervous system damage, cardiovascular issues, cancer, endocrine disruption, kidney damage, and so on. Our body is designed to excrete heavy metals through urine (and a little bit through sweat, hair, and breastmilk too)... but only so much. There's a limit. If you're overloaded, your body will store those heavy metals in your bones, blood, tissues, and organs. Similarly, if an animal is exposed to heavy metals via food, water, air, dust, or soil, those heavy metals accumulate in the bones. Maybe the farm's soil or air is contaminated from a nearby factory. Maybe the pipes for the water has lead solder connecting them. Maybe the feed a farm is buying was grown on contaminated soil or processed on contaminated equipment. And, of course, a main purpose of bone broth is drawing out as much as possible from the bones. If there are heavy metals in bones, they will make their way into the broth. This is especially true when you pre-soak with apple cider vinegar and simmer for 48 hours to make it thick and gelatinous (like our broth). And that led me to my second question --- Should I be concerned about every bone broth? Where is the fear coming from? Well... it seems it might be a little political. There was a study done in the UK in 2013 that scared a lot of people. It's titled "The Risk of Lead Contamination in Bone Broth Diets". This study found high levels of lead in organic chicken bone broth, which is quite concerning. And, in fact, this one study is still cited in articles written today! Let's dig a little deeper. Let's go farther than the short abstract. Here are the broths tested in the study and their test results for lead: (9.5 parts per billion): Broth made from tap water plus skin and cartilage(7.01 parts per billion): Broth made from tap water plus bones(2.3 parts per billion): Broth made from tap water plus meat(0.89 parts per billion): Tap water alone cooked for the same amount of time as a control. But, they only used organic chicken from one farm. And, there's zero information about that farm, their practices, the feed, and the broth recipe. Did they use vinegar or wine in the broth? Was the chicken's water contaminated with lead? What was the quality of the feed and the soil? Were the chickens raised indoors or outdoors? So many unanswered questions! All we get is that it was one "organic chicken" that created a lead issue with broth. Another curious thing is that the broth with skin and cartilage contained more lead than the broth made with just bones. Bones are where lead is stored, so why wouldn't the broth made with bones only contain more lead? It's an odd result. Moreover, the abstract of the study specifically called out "bone broth diets" like GAPS and paleo. They even go so far as to write, "In view of the dangers of lead consumption to the human body, we recommend that doctors and nutritionists take the risk of lead contamination into consideration when advising patients about bone broth diets." That's quite curious. Why are they worried about these diets? Are the researchers anti healing through food? Who funded the research? Is it political? My opinion? This study is not comprehensive. It does not speak to all bone broths. But it does cover a potential issue if the water or animals are overloaded with heavy metals. What I glean from this study is that we need more research. We don't need fear to spread and people to stop drinking broth from this one study. Regardless of whether the fear was fabricated or legit, we tested our bone broth anyway. After all, it's always nice to validate that your food choices are as clean as you think. For Miller's, here were my concerns before testing: What if there's mercury in the fishmeal in our chicken feed?What if the soil that our animals live on is contaminated?What is the well water that the broth is made with is contaminated?What if the Celtic sea salt has lots of heavy metals? We got the test results back. I was super excited. But, I was also confused. At face value, it appeared that our bone broth tested NEGATIVE for arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury. You can find the test results right here! You'll notice that, for every sample, the results are "<0.01 mg/kg" and "<0.02 mg/kg". I asked the lab what the "<" means. They said that it indicates their limit of quantitation (LOQ), the lowest concentration that can be accurately tested using the test procedure in that sample type. So the results simply report that none of the metals tested were found in the sample above the specific reporting LOQs. Whether or not they were present below this LOQ is information that is not provided by the test. When talking to the lab, I told them what we needed and assumed that this test would go below a 1 ppb. So, when the results came in, I assumed that a "mg/kg" was the same as a part per billion (ppb). Ummm... that math wasn't write! A "mg/kg" is actually a part per million (ppm). That means that the test we ran had results saying that the broth had less than 0.02 ppm (or 20 ppb) of arsenic and lead. And, it had less than 0.01 ppm (or 10 ppb) of cadmium and mercury. For some reference, the EPA says that less than 15 ppb of lead is safe in drinking water. Not saying that I agree, but it's a good reference point. These results are good. It means the broth definitely isn't overloaded with toxic heavy metals. But, it's not good enough!!! We need to test again! We really need to a lower LOQ. We need to know the results with an accuracy of as low as 1 ppb. It looks like the lab we sent the original samples to doesn't have an LOQ that low. So here I am on the hunt for a lab to do it again. As soon as I can, I'll send samples in again and paying for more expensive testing to get the info you deserve. Stay tuned! I hope to have the new results in by the end of April 2025. Do you worry about toxic metals (or other junk) in your food? Where have your fears stemmed from? I'd love to hear from you. You can comment below (no account required) or contact us 😊 ----- Sources The risk of lead contamination in bone broth dietsBone Broth and Lead Toxicity: Should You Be Concerned?Bone Broth and Lead Contamination: A Very Flawed Study in Medical HypothesesBone Broth, Collagen, and Toxic Metals: A Research Review

Celebrating the Heritage of Corn on National Popcorn Lovers Day

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