You as steak or beef lover exactly know Wagyu. But what makes it so special and expensive?
Wagyu – a Japanese beef cattle breed – derive from native Asian cattle. ‘WAGYU’ refers to all Japanese beef cattle, where ‘Wa’ means Japanese and ‘gyu’ means cow.
Wagyu beef is popular around the world because of its superior eating quality compared with other breeds of cattle. Not only does wagyu beef have higher levels of intra-muscular fat, or marbling, but the meat texture is finer, resulting in a more flavoursome eating experience.
A ‘super beef’ of sorts, wagyu is known for its marbled appearance and for being so tender it actually melts in your mouth.
To qualify for wagyu certification in Japan, cattle have to be fed a special diet predominantly made up of grain, and bred on fattening farms where they’re given a name instead of a number.
Wagyu have longer lives than other beef cattle, which also significantly improves the flavour of the beef – wagyu cows live for three years, whereas normal beef cattle live to about 15 months.
Best of all, wagyu is not only mouth-wateringly delicious, it’s proven to be good for you, too. Wagyu comes packed with a higher concentration of monounsaturated fats (the good fats), omega-3 and omega-6 than other beef.
Wagyu is also high in conjugated linoleic acid, a naturally occurring fatty acid which is also a popular dietary supplement.
Are you interested in tasting it?
www.instagram.com/sahabatpare_lingua