Is there a reason my farmers market vendor only sells "lean" stew meat? page

[Matil]

I buy grass fed beef at a farmers market from a vendor that specializes in it. The beef is grass finished and they are pretty much the only seller of "regular medium ground" grass finished beef I have seen anywhere for that matter.

However when it comes to stew beef they only offer "lean stew"? I thought maybe it was just what they called it because grass fed beef is naturally lean"er" than grain fed but I looked at one of the packages that had some nutrition information on it (none of the other packs ever do but this one did) and it said 0 fat, wtf?

Is there something wrong or unfavorable about regular grass fed stew beef? Why wouldn't they offer it?

[Theresa92]

I'm honestly not sure... But my guess is that even though Primal people buy grass fed, many(if not most) people who buy grass fed still follow the CW "low fat" diet.

[noodletoy]

because of the people who want to eat "healthy", about 99% still follow low-fat dogma.

i bet if you asked they could arrange other cuts for you.

[steve.mull]

Why not ask the source?

[Matil]

Yeah, Im going to try requesting it. What should I ask for? What is it called? Full fat beef? Regular stew beef? Medium stew?

Also is medium ground beef the highest amount of fat you can get or is there something higher?

[sbhikes]

The stew meat is usually cut from the shin bones, and the shin bones are sold as marrow bones. It just tends to be lean. And grass fed beef tends to be leaner than corn fed. The cookbook where I read that suggests making beef stew from a shank with the bone still in for added flavor.

[PaleoMom]

We buy whole cows - stew meat is from lean cuts. If you want fatty cuts you have to ask for something else like rib roast/steak. Many others roasts and stew meat are very lean and sold/used for roasts and stew because they will be cooked for long periods allowing the tougher lean meat to get tender.

This has absolutely nothing to do with the farmer thinking lean is good or bad.

[Urban Forager]

You could buy a chuck roast or short ribs which are perfect for making a stew, they come with fat and bones. We buy half a cow at a time and all the stew meat is lean.

[Paleobird]

Beef heart makes a really good stew too. It is lean but very tender. I just add my own marrow bone stock to it.

[onalark]

The stew meat is usually cut from the shin bones, and the shin bones are sold as marrow bones. It just tends to be lean. And grass fed beef tends to be leaner than corn fed. The cookbook where I read that suggests making beef stew from a shank with the bone still in for added flavor.

What sbhikes said. If it's fatty meat, it's probably going to be used for ground beef or sold whole as a chuck roast.