Feb 13, 2012

How the Japanese Produce Kobe Beef

Kobe beef is produced from black Tajima-ushi, a breed of Wagyu cattle, native to Japan. These cows provide marble-textured, fatty, tender and flavorful meat. What is known as oleaginous unsaturated fat causes Kobe beef to marble in that way. This high-quality and very expensive meat is produced through a strict and traditional Japanese way of raising cattle.

Before the 1960s, cattle in Japan, especially the bulls, served simply as beasts of burden for various farming activities. But the time came when the demand for quality food, and meat in particular, became so high that farm owners and cattle raisers began to breed cattle mainly for their meat.

Kobe beef cannot be called as such if it does not come from Tajima cattle, born and raised in Hyogo Prefecture in Japan. Calves are kept close and raised most of the time together with their mothers inside small pens. The cows' diet is comprised of commercial feeds including grains, roughages, fodders, rice straws, hays, silages, beers and freshly cut green grass. The cows' bodies are also periodically hand massaged to generate an even proportion of fats in their meat.

Specialized veterinarians are hired to castrate the bulls when they are two to three months of age. This is done to purify the meat. Fattening techniques applied to the steers, or bulls, and female cattle are different. Steers are subjected to what is known as an "ordinary" fattening system, where they are induced to enter the fattening stage at 10 months of age, and then prepared for slaughter once they reach 28 months. Female cattle, on the other hand go through the "old cow" system, where they start to be fattened at 6 to 8 years of age. Then they are treated with tender care for another five to eight more months before slaughter.

There are only a select few qualified slaughterhouses in Japan where the traditionally raised cattle can be butchered, all located within Hyogo Prefecture. Once produced, the beef must achieve a high-quality meat score of between 4 and 5.

Many restaurants around the world today that offer Kobe steaks online for purchase, find much of their investment is in buying and importing meat from Japan. Although extremely expensive, there is still a very high demand across the globe for Kobe beef. People who have already tasted the meat always come back for more and others who hear about it are constantly intrigued to try it despite the cost involved.

No comments:

Post a Comment