Beef Heart: Traditional vs. Grass Fed page

[AntonioCal]

I have been really trying to incorporate more organ meats into my diet. The taste is not the problem, I love eating them, I just can't seem to find any grass-fed organ meat. My local health-food store only carries more traditional cuts, save liver every now and then. However, last week I found beef heart at Giant Eagle (obviously traditional grain-fed) and decided to buy it. I cooked it in my crock pot and it was delicious but I noticed a lot of thick white fat surrounding the meat. Normally with grass-fed beef I would eat the fat and not think twice, but I'm wondering if because it is not grass-fed, I should be trimming the fat and throwing it away. I'm also wondering if the benefits of organ meat are worth going with grain-fed since its all that seems to be available (liver, kidneys, heart, and tripe all are readily available just not grass-fed). Any help would be appreciated!

[JoanieL]

You have a Whole Foods in Pittsburgh. Ours here has organic chicken livers. Maybe yours has an even more extensive non-CAFO selection of organs.

There is some thought that CAFO meats have the worst concentrations of the "bad stuff" in the organs or the fat. I think if you google something like "levels of pesticide in beef heart" you might be able to find some info.

[boxcarguy07]

Fellow pittsburgher checking in.
There are definitely places to get grass-fed heart here.
I'll PM you

[Artbuc]

US Wellness has a great grass-fed beef liverwurst that contains organ meat.

[boxcarguy07]

US Wellness has a great grass-fed beef liverwurst that contains organ meat.

If he's gonna order from US wellness, might as well just order straight up heart!

And kidneys. And sweetbreads. And...

[RichMahogany]

Yeah, but the liverwurst is fantastic. Really friggin' good.

I'd just eat the conventional heart once a week or so until you find/choose a source for grass-fed.

[Artbuc]

Yeah, but the liverwurst is fantastic. Really friggin' good.

I'd just eat the conventional heart once a week or so until you find/choose a source for grass-fed.

Yep, I eat a 1 lb tube every week...love it with mustard and cheese.

[magicmerl]

The heart is really a muscle, so while there's nothing wrong with eating it, it's not really the same as the other organ meats, nutritionally.

[sbhikes]

I figure it's honoring the animal to eat the organs even if the animal was raised in confinement for part of its life.

[Neckhammer]

I'd eat conventional organs fat and all. I see it this way.... if you were willing to eat the muscle meat the organs actually do not contain any more or less of whatever your trying to avoid, but you get a much bigger nutritional punch.

Heck I got grass fed lamb liver thawing in the fridge, but my wife didn't see it and cooked up some supermarket special chicken livers for dinner (1$/lb....pfft, I aint complaining). Anyway its fine. i downed my half pound