Q: Why are some sourdough items only available in the Build Your Own Sourdough Box?

Some of our sourdough items are exclusive to the Build Your Own Sourdough Box (which ships separately) because they come from a separate bakery and ship from a different location. Our full lineup of heritage wheat sourdough products is made by our lovely baker Kristin in Kansas. Her bakery is uniquely positioned right next to the fields where the wheat is grown and the mill where the grain is freshly stone milled. This close connection allows us to keep the flour incredibly fresh and produce baked goods that are more nutrient-dense, flavorful, and true to traditional sourdough methods. Because of this setup, these items ship from our Kansas hub in their own box , while the rest of your order (like cheese, beef, etc.) ships from our Michigan hub. The Build Your Own Sourdough Box makes it easy to access these products in one place, so you can mix and match your favorites and experience real sourdough, made the right way. That said, we do have a few sourdough items made locally near our Michigan hub that can still be added to your cart and shipped with the rest of your orderL like our artisan loaf (made with organic modern wheat, not heritage wheat) and our heritage wheat 32-oz cookie dough containers (chocolate chip and gingersnap).

Question 1

Why are some sourdough items only available in the Build Your Own Sourdough Box?

Accepted Answer

Some of our sourdough items are exclusive to the Build Your Own Sourdough Box (which ships separately) because they come from a separate bakery and ship from a different location.

Our full lineup of heritage wheat sourdough products is made by our lovely baker Kristin in Kansas. Her bakery is uniquely positioned right next to the fields where the wheat is grown and the mill where the grain is freshly stone milled. This close connection allows us to keep the flour incredibly fresh and produce baked goods that are more nutrient-dense, flavorful, and true to traditional sourdough methods.

Because of this setup, these items ship from our Kansas hub in their own box, while the rest of your order (like cheese, beef, etc.) ships from our Michigan hub.

The Build Your Own Sourdough Box makes it easy to access these products in one place, so you can mix and match your favorites and experience real sourdough, made the right way.

That said, we do have a few sourdough items made locally near our Michigan hub that can still be added to your cart and shipped with the rest of your orderL like our artisan loaf (made with organic modern wheat, not heritage wheat) and our heritage wheat 32-oz cookie dough containers (chocolate chip and gingersnap).

Question 2

What are the health benefits of sourdough bread?

Accepted Answer

But first, what actually is sourdough bread?

Sourdough is the oldest form of leavened bread, dating back over 5,000 years. (Leavened simply means the bread rises because a leavening agent produces gas, creating air pockets that make it light and airy instead of dense.)

Long before commercial yeast packets existed, dough was left out and naturally fermented by wild yeast and beneficial bacteria in the environment. That slow, natural fermentation is what made the bread rise.

Unlike modern bread-making, which often prioritizes speed and shelf life, traditional sourdough relies on time. With just flour, water, and salt, the fermentation process transforms the dough before it’s ever baked. During this slower rise, naturally occurring microbes begin breaking down some of the starches and proteins in the flour. This not only develops deeper flavor and better texture, but can also increase nutrient bioavailability and make the bread easier for many people to digest.

In simple terms, sourdough changes how the flour is processed before you eat it. It alters the structure, the flavor, and how your body handles the bread.

⦁ Easier Protein Digestion: Long fermentation partially breaks down gluten proteins, improving digestibility for many individuals.
⦁ Supports Gut Health: Fermentation modifies fiber structure and generates fermentable compounds that nourish beneficial gut bacteria and support SCFA production.
⦁ Improved Mineral Bioavailability: Activation of phytase reduces phytic acid, increasing absorption of minerals like zinc, magnesium, calcium, and iron.
⦁ Increased Polyphenol Bioaccessibility: Fermentation releases bound antioxidant compounds in whole grains, enhancing their availability.
⦁ Reduced Mycotoxin Levels: Certain sourdough microbes can bind or degrade specific mycotoxins, adding an extra layer of protection.
⦁ Better Blood Sugar Response: Organic acids and structural changes to starch may promote steadier glucose release and fewer dramatic post-meal spikes.
⦁ Structural Modification of Starch: Enzymatic pre-digestion and acidification alter starch behavior, supporting improved tolerance and slower digestion.
⦁ Lower Acrylamide Formation: The acidic fermentation environment can reduce acrylamide formation during baking compared to conventional yeast bread.

You can learn more about the difference between sourdough and modern yeast bread, and the science behind the health benefits in my blog post here.

Question 3

What makes Nourish sourdough different?

Accepted Answer

We couldn’t find a heritage wheat true authentic sourdough shop, so we made one!

Most sourdough today is made with refined or enriched white flour from modern wheat.

We chose a different path.
We go back to the traditional way of making sourdough, using heritage wheat, fresh milling, and true long fermentation (without commercial yeast).

Here’s what that looks like:
⦁ 🌾 Heritage wheat grown by regenerative farmers we know and trust
⦁ 🪨 Freshly stone-milled weekly for maximum freshness, flavor, and nutrients
⦁ 🍞 Brought just miles to our baker and made into small-batch sourdough
⦁ ⏳ True long fermentation with a sourdough starter (no shortcuts)
⦁ 🚫 No bleaching, no bromate, no synthetic fortification

This is a true seed-to-loaf system.
Most flour used in bakeries sits on shelves for months. Ours is milled fresh, baked fresh, and delivered to you.

The result: real sourdough with better flavor, easier digestion, better ingredients, more vitamins and minerals, and a level of freshness you simply won’t find in stores.

Question 4

Does the flour you use for baking have more nutrients?

Accepted Answer

Yes since the bran and germ remain in our flour (which is where most of the vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals are located). Many modern flour options (unless it is whole-grain) are heavily refined all-purpose flours. We tested our heritage wheat using LightLabs and compared it to an Organic all-purpose flour, and the nutrient improvements were significant! (Since all-purpose and many modern white flours are heavily refined with the bran and germ removed for shelf stability).

Since the flour contains more nutrients, all of our breads and baked goods will as well.

Question 5

What’s the difference between the two artisan sourdough loaves?

Accepted Answer

The loaves are similar in process, but different in the grain used. Both are long-fermented sourdough, made the traditional way for better flavor and digestibility.

The key difference is the flour:

One loaf is made with modern organic refined wheat (offered in 1 and 1.5 lbs). This loaf can be added to the rest of your order.
The other (only available in the Build Your Own Sourdough Box) is made with our heritage wheat (2 lb loaf) which is freshly stone-milled and retains more of its natural nutrients and flavor

The heritage wheat loaf has a slightly richer, more rustic flavor and a darker crumb due to the whole grain flour.

They also differ slightly in size, but both are delicious, just depends on your preference!

Question 6

How is your flour milled?

Accepted Answer

It is freshly stone-milled weekly for maximal nutrients, flavor and freshness.

Once harvested, grains must be milled to transform them into flour. While modern roller mills dominate industrial flour production, we choose the time-honored method of stone milling to preserve the integrity of the grain.

Stone milling is a traditional, slower grinding process that crushes whole grains between two large natural or engineered stones. Unlike high-speed roller mills, which strip away the bran and germ to create ultra-refined flour, stone milling preserves more of the grain’s natural vitamins, minerals, and polyphenols, delivering a flour that is not only more nutritious but also richer in flavor.

Because stone mills generate less heat, delicate nutrients remain intact, and the resulting flour retains a coarser texture with more depth and character.

Many bakers and home cooks find that stone-milled flour produces superior-tasting sourdough bread and other baked goods with a heartier, more satisfying bite.

At Nourish, we are committed to milling methods that respect both tradition and nutrition, ensuring that our flour delivers the highest quality in both taste and nourishment.

Meet your flour miller, Dustin! And the set up used to stone-mill and bag your flour in 100% cotton bags.It is freshly stone-milled weekly for maximal nutrients, flavor and freshness.

Question 7

What makes Nourish Flour different?

Accepted Answer

⦁ Ancient grains and heritage wheat: never genetically manipulated, more flavorful, and easier to digest
⦁ Lab-tested pesticide free
⦁ Full transparency: we know who grows the grains, we don’t just buy it randomly off the market like many flour brands
⦁ Regeneratively grown: healthier soil, cleaner environment, healthier ecosystem, and more nutrient-dense flour
⦁ Freshly milled: stone-milled week to week for peak nutrition and flavor (while most flour at the store can sit at warehouses or on shelves for months)
⦁ Traditional stone-milled: unlike modern roller mills that strip away nutrients, stone-milling preserves the grain’s natural vitamins, minerals, oils, and aroma
⦁ Never bleached
⦁ Never bromated
⦁ No synthetic fortification: no iron shards, no artificial vitamins, just pure flour the way nature intended
⦁ Beyond Organic: there are a number of loop holes in the Organic industry so we don’t trust or bother with that expensive certification. In fact, Organic farming practices often Our farming requirements go beyond what Organic requires, providing more transparency
⦁ Truly nutrient dense
⦁ Bagged in 100% cotton

This is flour you can feel GOOD about using.

Process flow for Nourish flour:

1️⃣ Heritage wheat and ancient grains grown by our regenerative row crop farmers
2️⃣ Flour is milled fresh every week for maximal nutrients and improved taste
3️⃣ Flour is bagged in cotton
4️⃣ Shipped within 2-3 days of milling directly to your door

Fresh, maximal nutrients, convenience - the Nourish way

Voting with Your Dollar

By choosing Nourish Flour, you’re saying no to the chemical-intensive, industrial agriculture system that depletes topsoil and pollutes our environment….

And YES to regenerative practices that rebuild soil, increase food nutrient density, and reduce pesticide exposure for families and communities.

This is how we change the food system, one food purchase at a time.

Question 8

How do I use each of the heritage wheat and ancient grain flours?

Accepted Answer

Our flour is freshly milled from heritage wheat and ancient grains with the whole grain, so of course they will behave differently than modern, highly processed, refined white flours!

Here is a link to current recipes using the flour.

Here is a link to a more detailed description of the uses for each flour, with linked recipes.

And here’s a quick guide to help you get the best results:
⦁ Rouge de Bordeaux & Turkey Red (wheat flours): Great for breads, bagels, pastries, and pizza dough. They have a slightly lower gluten strength than modern flours, so doughs may rise a bit slower and be a little more dense than modern wheat. Use slightly more hydration and allow time for the dough to rest.
⦁ Spelt: It has a more delicate gluten structure, but works well in quick-rise or enriched breads, muffins, pancakes, and cookies. Avoid over-kneading, and you may need slightly less liquid than a recipe calls for with conventional flour.
⦁ Rye: Perfect for dense, flavorful breads like classic rye or add some to your sourdough mix. Rye flour doesn’t rise as much as wheat flours, so it’s often combined with other flours. It adds a rich, earthy taste and keeps baked goods moist longer.
⦁ Millet: Gluten-free and light, millet flour is excellent for pancakes, flatbreads, muffins, and cookies. Because it lacks gluten, it works best in combination with other flours or with binding agents (like eggs) in recipes that need structure.

Each flour’s flavor and hydration needs are unique, but the results are richer, more flavorful, and more nutrient-dense than modern flours.

Question 9

How do I store the freshly milled flour?

Accepted Answer

Our flour is different from the heavily processed flour you’ll find at the store that can sit at warehouses or on shelves for months. Because our flour is freshly milled from whole grains, we recommend storing it in the freezer to keep your flour super fresh!

Why? Freezing helps:
⦁ Preserve freshness & flavor: Keeps the natural oils from turning rancid.
⦁ Maintain nutrients: Protects vitamins and essential fatty acids naturally found in whole grains.
⦁ Prevent pests: Eliminates any risk of pantry pests like weevils.
⦁ Extend shelf life: Freshly milled flour can last months in the freezer instead of just weeks at room temperature.

Tip: Keep it in an airtight container or heavy-duty freezer bag, and bring it to room temperature before baking for best results.

Question 10

Is your flour Organic?

Accepted Answer

No, and that’s intentional. There are many loopholes in the Organic certification system, so we don’t rely on it or spend money on the label. In fact, you can watch me dive deeper into this and why we intentionally avoid the Organic label in my YouTube video, or my recent YouTube live where I discuss the downfalls of organic and organic imports.

Organic farming practices can sometimes be degenerative, using heavy tillage that degrades soil health over time. Our standards go beyond Organic, ensuring full transparency with our group of regenerative row crop farmers.

We never use toxic pesticides, and we have the lab results to prove it. Tested by an independent third-party lab, Safe Food Alliance, our flour is pesticide-free, screened for over 750 pesticides.

Question 11

What does ‘heritage wheat' and 'ancient grain' mean?

Accepted Answer

Our ancestors have thrived on flour and bread for thousands of years. Now, it’s making people sick. What changed?

Modern wheat is…
⦁ genetically altered
⦁ often coated with pesticides
⦁ stripped of natural nutrients during harsh milling
⦁ bleached and bromated
⦁ fortified with iron shards and synthetic vitamins like folic acid.

Unlike today’s hybridized and genetically manipulated wheat, ancient and heritage grains are…
⦁ easier to digest
⦁ contain more vitamins and minerals
⦁ are NOT fortified with synthetic vitamins and minerals
⦁ and are free from genetic modification.

Many people who struggle with modern wheat find ancient and heritage grains gentler on the gut. These grains also offer a deeper, more complex flavor and superior baking qualities compared to conventional wheat.

“Ancient grains” refers to grains that have remained largely unchanged for thousands of years. At Nourish, we offer spelt and millet ancient grains.

“Heritage grains” (sometimes called heirloom grains) refer to older grain varieties that were grown before industrialized agriculture and modern hybridization, but they don’t have to be thousands of years old like ancient grains. The are typically regionally adapted and grown and passed down through generations. At Nourish, we offer Turkey Red wheat and Rouge de Bordeaux wheat, both are heritage grains with long traditions in food cultures.

Ancient and heritage grains preserve the integrity of wheat as nature intended, before modern industrial breeding altered its genetics.

Question 12

Is your flour fresh?

Accepted Answer

Yes, many mills mass-produce flour bags that site in warehouses for months. This leads to nutrient degradation and oxidation.

Our flour bags are stone-milled the old fashioned way week to week for maximal nutrients and flavor.

Question 13

Is your flour fortified?

Accepted Answer

Absolutely not.
(And for context, most modern flour and flour used for many sourdough loaves is. You’ll know if you read an ingredient label and see: “Enriched Flour” or a list like: wheat flour, niacin, iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid.)

Modern flour is processed so aggressively that it strips away many of the naturally occurring vitamins and minerals. Then companies try to “fix” this by adding synthetic nutrients back in.

But it’s unrealistic to think we can recreate nature’s design with isolated additives that lack the same bioavailability or synergy.

Here’s what enrichment typically includes:
⦁ Metallic Iron Particles: Conventional enriched flour often contains reduced iron, essentially tiny metal filings. These can contribute to iron overload and oxidative stress in susceptible individuals.
⦁ Synthetic B Vitamins: Instead of the complex, naturally occurring B vitamins found in whole foods, enriched flours use synthetic forms like folic acid. Folic acid must be converted in the body to its active form (tetrahydrofolate). Not everyone performs this conversion efficiently, leaving unmetabolized folic acid circulating in the bloodstream: something that may disrupt natural folate pathways and overall B vitamin metabolism.

At Nourish Food Club, our Non-Fortified Flour keeps its natural nutrient profile intact: free from synthetic additives, industrial iron, and artificial “enrichment.”

We honor the integrity of real food so you get flour as nature intended: rich in genuine vitamins, minerals, and incredible flavor.

Question 14

Is your flour bromated?

Accepted Answer

Absolutely not.
What does ‘bromate’ mean? Many conventional flours and baked goods in the U.S. contain potassium bromate: a flour treatment agent used to strengthen dough and promote higher rises. However, this chemical additive has been classified as a possible human carcinogen and is banned in numerous countries, including the European Union, Canada, and the United Kingdom, due to concerns about its potential link to cancer and oxidative damage.

Despite these risks, potassium bromate remains legal in the U.S., where it is often used in mass-produced breads, pizza dough, and other baked goods. Studies suggest that residual bromate can remain in finished products, posing unnecessary health risks.

At Nourish, we take a stand against harmful additives. Our flour is 100% free of potassium bromate, ensuring you get pure, high-quality flour without unnecessary chemical enhancers. We believe real food should be made with real ingredients, just as nature intended.

Question 15

How is your flour grown?

Accepted Answer

Our chemical-free heritage and ancient grains are grown using regenerative agriculture practices that work with nature, not against it. That means no pesticides and no heavy tillage.

Instead, our farmers rely on time-honored, soil-building practices such as:
⦁ Diverse crop rotations that break pest cycles naturally
⦁ Cover crops to protect and feed the soil
⦁ Working with the seasons rather than forcing artificial growth
⦁ Living roots in the ground as much as possible to support microbial life

By choosing Nourish Flour, you’re voting with your dollar against the chemical-intensive, industrial agriculture system that depletes topsoil and pollutes our environment.

You’re instead supporting regenerative agriculture, which restores soil health, boosts nutrient density and flavor in food, and reduces pesticide exposure in our environment.

Lab tested to be free of over 750 pesticides!

Question 16

Does your flour have more nutrients?

Accepted Answer

Yes since the bran and germ remain in our flour (which is where most of the vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals are located). Many modern flour options (unless it is whole-grain) are heavily refined all-purpose flours. We tested our heritage wheat using LightLabs and compared it to an Organic all-purpose flour, and the nutrient improvements were significant! (Since all-purpose and many modern white flours are heavily refined with the bran and germ removed for shelf stability).

Question 17

What salt do you use?

Accepted Answer

We chose Redmond Real Salt for its balance of quality, mineral content, and sourcing. It comes from an ancient underground deposit in Utah that has not been exposed to modern ocean contamination, which can introduce microplastics. In fact, research has found salts from this region to have among the lowest levels of microplastics. (ref)

Like all unrefined salts, it naturally contains trace minerals, including very small amounts of naturally occurring heavy metals. A popular website claimed it was high in lead, but those results are very contradictory to other independent lab testing. More info here. Testing shows these levels to be low and within safe ranges. Based on the overall sourcing, composition, and supporting data, it’s a salt we feel confident using in our products.

Question 18

Why is sugar used in some of the items?

Accepted Answer

If you prefer: our artisan loaves, sandwich loaf, pizza dough, and Honey Oat granola do not contain any added sugar.

We use real, organic cane sugar, nothing artificial or overly processed. Despite what you may hear, sugar itself isn’t inherently “inflammatory,” especially in the context of a balanced diet made up of real, whole foods. It’s been used for thousands of years as a natural sweetener and has played an important role in baking, contributing to both flavor and texture, for centuries.

Ours is sourced directly from the cane plant and provides a simple, familiar sweetness without the need for additives or substitutes.

Question 19

Are these products gluten free?

Accepted Answer

No. These products contain gluten and are not safe for those with celiac disease.
However, true sourdough fermentation helps pre-break down the gluten structure and significantly improve digestibility.
Many people find it easier to tolerate and digest it well, but it is still not gluten-free.
You can dive into the science behind why in this blog post.

Question 20

Is there soy in your chocolate chips?

Accepted Answer

No, and that’s intentional (since many baked goods these days use chocolate chips with soy in them). We source chocolate chips made the old-fashioned way, without soy or soy lecithin.

That means simpler ingredients and no unnecessary additives. Because of this, our chocolate is more expensive to source, but for us, it’s worth it.

We prioritize clean, thoughtfully sourced ingredients so you can feel confident in what you’re eating.

Question 21

What is raw cheese?

Accepted Answer

Raw cheese is made from milk that has not been pasteurized before cheesemaking. But here’s something most people don’t realize: “raw cheese” doesn’t necessarily mean the milk was never heat treated.

Under U.S. regulations, cheese labeled “raw milk” or “unpasteurized” can still be made from milk that has been heated, as long as it stays just below the temperature that legally qualifies as pasteurization. Some 'raw cheeses' sold in grocery stores are made from milk heated to 135°F or even higher.

For example, Organic Valley states that the milk used for its Raw Sharp Cheddar is heated to 158°F for 15 seconds. For perspective, standard high-temperature, short-time (HTST) pasteurization heats milk to 161°F for 15 seconds. That temperature is just below the low end of pasteurization, so the finished cheese can still be sold as raw cheese. Crazy!

But that's very different from traditional raw-milk cheesemaking, where the goal is to avoid exposing the milk to high heat. Keeping temperatures low helps preserve heat sensitive compounds and beneficial bacteria.

We take this more traditional approach. Our truly raw cheeses are never heated above 110°F during cheesemaking, keeping the milk close to its natural temperature when it leaves the animal and avoiding the much higher heat treatments used in many modern cheesemaking processes.

Our raw cheeses start with high-quality raw milk from pasture-raised cows, goats, and sheep and are crafted using traditional cheesemaking methods. For us, raw cheese isn't just about meeting the technical definition of “unpasteurized.” It's about starting with exceptional raw milk and processing it as little as possible on its journey from pasture to cheese.

Question 22

What are the benefits of raw cheese?

Accepted Answer

Cheese itself is an incredibly nutrient-dense food, providing high-quality protein, calcium, fat-soluble vitamins, vitamin K2, and healthy fats. But we believe the quality of the milk and how it's processed matter, too.

The biggest difference with raw cheese is simple: the milk has not undergone high-heat pasteurization before becoming cheese.

Milk isn't just protein, fat, and calcium. It's a complex biological food containing naturally occurring bacteria, enzymes, proteins, peptides, vitamins, and other bioactive compounds, many of which are sensitive to heat. Pasteurization reduces certain heat-sensitive components, which is one reason we prefer to start with exceptional raw milk and interfere with it as little as possible.

One example is lactoferrin, a bioactive milk protein studied for its antimicrobial, immune-regulating, and gut-supporting properties. Lactoferrin is heat sensitive, and research shows that increasing heat treatment can reduce its concentration and biological activity.

Raw-milk cheeses can also contain a much more diverse microbial community originating from the milk, farm environment, starter cultures, and cheesemaking process. Research has shown that microorganisms consumed in fermented foods such as cheese can make their way through the digestive tract and contribute to the microbial populations found in the gut.

Raw cheese is one of the best probiotics!

Then there's the fermentation itself. During cheesemaking and aging, microorganisms and enzymes transform milk proteins and fats, producing a huge variety of peptides, fatty acids, and other bioactive compounds while creating the flavors and textures that make traditionally made cheese so incredible.

And raw cheese is still packed with the nutrients that make real cheese such a nutritional powerhouse in the first place, including bioavailable protein, calcium, vitamin K2, and healthy fats (like C15:0).

Of course, the benefits of raw cheese ultimately depend on the quality of the raw milk you start with. That's why ours begins with milk from pasture-raised cows, goats, and sheep, is kept raw during cheesemaking, and is made with traditional animal rennet.

Exceptional milk. Minimal processing. Traditional fermentation. Nutrient-dense cheese.

Question 23

Is raw cheese safe to eat?

Accepted Answer

Raw cheese has been made and consumed for thousands of years, but as with any minimally processed food, the quality of the starting ingredients and how it is produced matter.

Raw cheese is also very different from raw milk. During cheesemaking, the milk undergoes fermentation, acidification, salting, moisture reduction, and often extended aging, all of which change the environment of the milk.

Even the government admits raw cheese is safe when aged for 60 days at 35°F or above.

Most of our raw cheeses are aged for at least 60 days, with some aged much longer.

We believe safe raw cheese starts with clean raw milk, healthy animals, clean farming practices, careful handling, and skilled traditional cheesemaking.

Question 24

What is A2 cheese?

Accepted Answer

Milk contains two major types of protein: whey and casein. One of the primary casein proteins is beta-casein, which in cow’s milk can be A1, A2, or a combination of both, depending on the genetics of the cow.

A2 cheese is made from milk containing only the A2 form of beta-casein, rather than A1 beta-casein commonly found in many modern dairy cows. Our cow cheeses come from cows genetically tested to be A2A2, while goats and sheep naturally produce A2-type beta-casein.

So what’s the difference between A1 and A2?

Surprisingly, just one amino acid. At position 67 of the beta-casein protein, A1 contains histidine while A2 contains proline. That tiny structural difference changes how the protein can be broken down during digestion. A1 beta-casein is more susceptible to releasing a bioactive opioid peptide called beta-casomorphin-7 (BCM-7) during digestion, while A2 beta-casein behaves differently.

Research suggests this difference may help explain why some people who experience digestive discomfort from conventional dairy report better tolerance with A2 dairy.
And this distinction is especially relevant when we’re talking about cheese. During cheesemaking, much of the whey is drained away while casein is retained and concentrated in the curd, making the type of casein in the original milk particularly important to us.

That’s why our A2 cheese is made from milk from genetically tested A2A2 cows or A2 goats and sheep. A2 is also considered the ancestral form of beta-casein, before the A1 genetic variant emerged in cattle.

One important distinction: A2 does not mean lactose-free. A2 refers specifically to the type of beta-casein protein in the milk, not its lactose content.

Question 25

Is Nourish Food Club raw cheese grass fed?

Accepted Answer

Our raw cow and sheep cheeses are made from 100% grass-fed milk.

Dairy goats are a little different and require a supplemental feed in addition to pasture and forage to support their high metabolism and unique digestive system. But what’s in that supplemental feed matters. Rather than using conventional or generic non-GMO feeds containing PUFA-rich ingredients like corn, soy, canola, and sunflower, we developed our own custom organic, corn- and soy-free, low-PUFA feed for our dairy goats. This ensures that our milk (and, in turn, our cheese) is free from harmful pesticides and excess polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs), preserving better taste and nutrition.

Question 26

How is grass fed cheese different from conventional cheese?

Accepted Answer

Grass fed cheese starts with the diet of the animal producing the milk. But first, there’s an important distinction: “grass fed” labels at the store rarely means 100% grass fed. Dairy cows marketed as grass fed may still receive supplemental grain, including corn and soy. That’s why we specifically distinguish our 100% grass-fed cow and sheep dairy from products that simply use the term “grass fed.”

And that distinction matters because what the animal eats influences the composition of her milk, and that milk ultimately becomes your cheese.
Conventional dairy cows are raised in feedlots and are commonly fed corn silage, grains, soy, and other concentrated feeds (often GMO, and grown using pesticides).

Our 100% grass-fed dairy animals instead rotationally graze diverse living pastures, eating grasses, clovers, forbs, herbs, and other plants throughout the growing season, with hay during the snowy winter months.

Research shows that pasture feeding can measurably change the nutritional composition of milk. Milk from pasture-fed animals has been shown to have different fatty-acid profiles and higher concentrations of certain carotenoids, antioxidants, vitamins, and other plant-derived compounds compared with conventional milk.

And it isn't just grass that matters. The diversity of the pasture matters, too. When ruminants graze a wide variety of plants, they consume a diverse array of health-promoting phytonutrients. Research is increasingly showing that some of these compounds and their metabolites can make their way from pasture → animal → milk, creating measurable nutritional differences.

The cows on our partner farms are rotationally grazed, helping to build healthier soil and more resilient pasture.

Because when it comes to making truly nourishing grass fed cheese, you can't separate the quality of the cheese from the quality of the milk. And you can't separate the quality of the milk from the quality of the pasture.

Question 27

Why does Nourish Food Club use traditional animal rennet?

Accepted Answer

For centuries, traditional cheesemaking was remarkably simple: milk, salt, starter cultures, and animal rennet.

Rennet is what transforms milk into cheese. It contains naturally occurring enzymes, primarily chymosin, found in the stomachs of ruminant animals. These enzymes act on the casein proteins in milk, allowing the milk to separate into solid curds and liquid whey. The curds eventually become cheese.

But most cheese in America is no longer made this traditional way.

Today, an estimated 80–90% of commercially produced cheese in the United States uses fermentation-produced chymosin (FPC) rather than traditional animal rennet. FPC is produced by genetically engineered microorganisms that have been given the genetic instructions to produce chymosin.

And here's the part most people don't know: Pfizer was one of the pioneers of this technology. In 1990, the FDA affirmed Pfizer's fermentation-produced chymosin preparation as Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) for use in food. It helped usher in a completely different way of producing one of the key enzymes used to make cheese.

Instead of extracting the naturally occurring mixture of enzymes from a ruminant stomach like weve done for thousands of years, manufacturers could now have genetically engineered microorganisms produce chymosin through industrial fermentation.

We decided to stick with the old-fashioned way.

Raw milk. Traditional cultures. Animal rennet. Salt.

Sometimes the old-fashioned way really is the better way.

Question 28

What is the difference between raw cow, goat, and sheep cheese?

Accepted Answer

All three can make incredible cheese, but cow, goat, and sheep cheese are naturally different in their color, flavor, fat composition, protein structure, and nutrient density.

Cow cheese tends to be creamier or more golden in color, especially when cows are grazing diverse pastures and nutrient-rich hay like the cows in our farm cooperative. That's because cows retain some of the colorful beta-carotene from the grasses and plants they eat, which can make its way into the fat in the cheese. Cow cheese typically has the most familiar flavor and can range from mild and creamy to extremely sharp depending on how it's cultured and aged.

Goat cheese is naturally much whiter. Goats efficiently convert beta-carotene from pasture into vitamin A (retinol) rather than depositing much of the yellow beta-carotene pigment into their milk fat. Goat dairy also has a different fatty-acid profile, including greater proportions of certain short- and medium-chain fatty acids, which contribute to its characteristic flavor. Goat milk fat also tends to have smaller fat globules than cow milk, another structural difference between the two.

Sheep cheese is also naturally white because sheep, like goats, convert beta-carotene into vitamin A rather than retaining much of the pigment. Sheep dairy is particularly concentrated in fat, protein, calcium, and other milk solids, which is one reason sheep cheese can be so rich, dense, and flavorful. Its fat also contains meaningful amounts of short- and medium-chain fatty acids.

The casein proteins differ between species, too. Our cow cheeses are made exclusively from milk from genetically tested A2A2 cows, while goats and sheep naturally produce A2-type beta-casein.

And because cheese concentrates the fat, casein, minerals, and other components retained in the curd, these differences in the original milk become part of what makes cow, goat, and sheep cheeses so unique.

There isn't one that's “best.” That's exactly why we offer all three. Different animals, different pastures, different cheeses, all made according to the same Nourish standards: raw, A2, traditionally made, and sourced from small regenerative farms.

Question 29

Does raw cheese contain lactose?

Accepted Answer

Yes, but cheese generally contains dramatically less lactose than milk, especially when it is aged.

During cheesemaking, milk separates into curds and whey. Lactose is a water-soluble milk sugar, so much of it leaves with the liquid whey while the fat and casein proteins remain concentrated in the curd.

The starter cultures then ferment much of the remaining lactose into lactic acid during aging.

So as cheese ages, the amount of lactose continues to decline, which is why many traditionally aged hard cheeses contain negligible amounts of lactose and can often be tolerated by people who don't tolerate milk well.

Most of our raw cheeses are aged for at least 60 days, with some aged much longer. Our Sharp Cheddar, for example, is aged for more than a year.

One important distinction: raw, A2, and low-lactose all mean different things. Raw refers to heat treatment, A2 refers to the beta-casein protein, and lactose is the naturally occurring sugar in milk.

So while we don't consider all of our raw cheeses lactose-free, traditional cheesemaking and aging can drastically reduce the amount of lactose compared with fresh milk.

Question 30

What kinds of raw cheese are available?

Accepted Answer

We’re on a mission to build one of the most diverse, highest-quality raw A2 cheese collections, made with raw milk from cows, goats, and sheep raised on small regenerative farms in the US, not factory farms.

Our collection includes everything from mild, medium, and sharp cheddars to Gouda, Colby, Swiss, Havarti, Monterey Jack, Pepper Jack, mozzarella, feta, chèvre, yogurt cheese, and specialty varieties like garlic & dill, herbal, cranberry, applewood, and jalapeño cheeses. We also offer a growing selection of raw goat cheese and raw sheep cheese, including cheddar, Gouda, Colby, feta, chèvre, and more.

Most of our cheeses are aged for at least 60 days, with some aged considerably longer. Our Sharp Cheddar, for example, is aged for more than a year.

But regardless of the variety, we're incredibly picky about how our cheese is made. Our cheeses are raw, A2, made with traditional animal rennet, and sourced from pasture-raised animals on small farms. Our 100% grass-fed cow and sheep cheeses and our pasture-raised, custom-fed goat cheeses all start with nutrient-rich milk produced to our standards.

You can add individual cheeses to any Nourish order, or make cheese the whole event with our Build Your Own Raw A2 Cheese Box, where you choose your favorites and can order it once or subscribe for recurring deliveries.

Because we don't think choosing better cheese should mean choosing between quality and variety. We want you to have both.

Question 31

What is A2A2 milk?

Accepted Answer

Milk contains two major types of protein: whey and casein. One of the primary casein proteins is beta-casein, which in cow's milk can be A1, A2, or a combination of both, depending on the genetics of the cow.

A2A2 milk comes from cows that have two copies of the A2 beta-casein gene, meaning their milk contains A2 beta-casein rather than the A1 variant commonly found in many modern dairy herds. A2 is considered the ancestral form of beta-casein, while the A1 variant arose later through a genetic mutation in cattle.

So what's the difference between A1 and A2?Surprisingly, just one amino acid along the protein chain. At position 67 of beta-casein, A1 contains histidine while A2 contains proline. But that tiny structural difference changes how the protein can be broken down during digestion.

A1 beta-casein is more susceptible to releasing a bioactive opioid peptide called beta-casomorphin-7 (BCM-7) during digestion, while A2 beta-casein behaves differently.

And there's actually quite a bit of research investigating why this matters. Human clinical studies have found that some people experience fewer gastrointestinal symptoms when consuming milk containing only A2 beta-casein compared with conventional milk containing A1 and A2 proteins. This may help explain why some people who believe they don't tolerate dairy well find that they do better with A2 dairy.

That's why we make sure our cow milk and dairy products come from cows genetically tested to be A2A2. Goats and sheep naturally produce A2-type beta-casein as well.

One important distinction: A2A2 does not mean lactose-free. A2 refers specifically to the type of beta-casein protein in the milk, while lactose is the naturally occurring sugar in milk.

Question 32

What is the difference between A2 dairy and regular dairy?

Accepted Answer

The difference is the beta-casein protein. Regular cow dairy may contain A1 beta-casein, A2 beta-casein, or a combination of both, while A2 dairy contains the A2 form.

A1 and A2 differ by just one amino acid, but that small structural difference changes how the protein can be broken down during digestion. Research suggests this may help explain why some people experience fewer digestive symptoms with A2 dairy compared with conventional dairy containing A1 beta-casein.
And A2 doesn't just apply to milk. The type of beta-casein in a dairy product comes from the milk used to make it. So when A2A2 milk is made into yogurt, kefir, cottage cheese, sour cream, cheese, and other dairy foods, the beta-casein retained in those products is the A2 variant.

All of our cow dairy starts with milk from genetically tested A2A2 cows, while goats and sheep naturally produce A2-type beta-casein.

So whether you're buying our milk, yogurt, kefir, cottage cheese, cream, butter, or cheese, it all starts with the same A2 dairy standard.

Question 33

What does raw dairy mean?

Accepted Answer

Raw dairy is made from milk that has not been pasteurized, meaning it has not undergone the high-heat treatment commonly used to kill potential pathogens in conventional milk.

For most of human history, this was simply milk. Humans consumed raw dairy for thousands of years before pasteurization became widespread in the early 20th century. Pasteurization became a public-health tool as dairy production became increasingly centralized, urbanized and industrialized and milk-borne diseases such as tuberculosis and typhoid were major concerns. Would you expect anything differently when you removed cows from pasture and stuffed cows into small spaces in cities?

Today, most grocery-store dairy comes through the large factory-farm systems. Milk from many farms may be pooled together at centralized processing facilities, pasteurized, homogenized, packaged, and distributed across large regions. Pasteurization for this large factory farm model is important.

Our approach to raw dairy starts back at the farm. Our raw dairy comes from pasture-raised cows, goats, and sheep on small farms, with a focus on healthy animals, clean milking practices, careful handling, and keeping the milk cold from the beginning. The milk is single point origin and bottled at the farm where it is produced.

And raw dairy doesn't just mean raw milk. Raw milk can become cream, butter, yogurt, kefir, cottage cheese, sour cream, cheese, and other cultured dairy products without first undergoing conventional pasteurization.

For us, raw dairy is about starting with exceptional milk and processing it as little as possible on its journey from pasture to you.

Question 34

How is raw milk different from pasteurized milk?

Accepted Answer

The biggest difference is heat treatment. Raw milk has not been pasteurized, while pasteurized milk is heated to specific temperatures for specific amounts of time to reduce potentially harmful microorganisms.

At first glance, raw and pasteurized milk can look fairly similar on a standard nutrition label. Both contain protein, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals.

While some tests show similar mineral composition, other studies show that high temperature pasteurization can lead to mineral deposits that accumulate on pasteurization equipment during processing. Where did those minerals come from? They leached from the milk itself.

In addition, many conventional dairy products are fortified with synthetic vitamins, and sometimes those 'vitamin packets' contain emulsifiers and seed oils to mix into the milk (which can cause digestive discomfort for some).

Beyond vitamins and minerals, milk is much more than the numbers on a nutrition label.

Milk is a complex biological food matrix containing naturally occurring microorganisms, enzymes, proteins, peptides, fats, immune components, and other bioactive compounds. Some of these components are sensitive to heat, which means pasteurization can change their structure, activity, or concentration.

For example, raw milk naturally contains:

Lactoferrin, an iron-binding bioactive protein studied for its antimicrobial, immune-regulating, and anti-inflammatory functions
Living enzymes that support digestion
Immunoglobulins and other immune-related proteins
Anti-inflammatory compounds including TGF-beta (supports immune regulation and strengthens the intestinal barrier), CD14 (helps neutralize endotoxins), Lactadherin (supports gut repair and barrier integrity)
Heat-sensitive whey proteins
Naturally occurring microorganisms, including lactic-acid bacteria
Numerous other bioactive proteins, peptides, enzymes, and compounds that researchers continue to study

Some nutrients remain relatively stable during pasteurization, while others are destroyed, reduced or structurally altered.

And researchers are increasingly interested in what those differences might mean for the gut and immune system.

One 12-week observational study found that increased consumption of raw milk and dairy was strongly associated with an improvement in gut function and digestion. The researchers noted an increase in Lactobacillus in participants' gut microbiomes (good gut bacteria), an increase in beneficial short-chain fatty acids, and an increase in the predicted functional richness of the microbiome.

There is also a surprisingly large body of observational research on raw milk and immune health. Large European studies involving thousands of children have repeatedly found associations between raw milk consumption and lower rates of asthma, allergies, and atopy.

Does that mean pasteurized milk has no nutritional value? Of course not. And pasteurization is an effective food-safety tool for milk produced in feedlot style dairy farms where thousands of cows are concentrated in a small area, disconnected from nature, and fed grain-based diets.

But it does mean that raw milk and pasteurized milk are not biologically identical foods simply because their nutrition labels look similar.

That's one reason we choose to offer raw dairy from healthy, pasture-raised animals and focus so heavily on how that milk is produced and handled before it ever reaches you.

Question 35

Are there real health benefits to drinking raw milk?

Accepted Answer

The difference between raw and pasteurized milk is not simply about macronutrients. It is about biological integrity that can support your body's gut microbiome and digestive function.

Pasteurization reduces pathogen risk by applying heat. But heat also alters enzymes, immune proteins, beneficial bacteria, and delicate bioactive compounds that contribute to gut, immune, and respiratory health.

There are several health benefits to drinking raw milk that is cleanly produced:

- Intact immune proteins: Raw milk contains immunoglobulins, lactoferrin, lactadherin, and other immune-supportive compounds that are partially reduced during pasteurization.

- Higher bioactivity of lactoferrin: Lactoferrin (known as the ‘miracle molecule’ in the research) supports immune function, regulates iron metabolism, helps inhibit pathogenic bacteria, reduces inflammation, and supports gut and brain health. Pasteurization significantly reduces its biological activity.

- Living enzymes: Raw milk retains naturally occurring enzymes such as lipase and lactase-producing bacteria that may aid digestion for some individuals.

- Natural probiotic potential – Unlike pasteurized milk, raw milk retains beneficial bacteria. Some studies show raw dairy consumption can increase Lactobacillus species and short-chain fatty acid production in the gut.

- Improved microbiome diversity: Research suggests regular raw dairy consumption may increase functional richness of the gut microbiome, supporting metabolic and immune resilience.

- Lower allergy and asthma associations: Large observational studies (GABRIEL, PARSIFAL, PASTURE cohorts) involving thousands of children across multiple countries have found consistent associations between raw milk consumption and reduced rates of asthma, atopy, and respiratory infections.

- Better tolerance for some individuals: Surveys indicate a portion of people who experience digestive discomfort with pasteurized milk report improved tolerance when consuming raw milk.

- Preservation of the full food matrix: Raw milk maintains its natural structure of fats, proteins, enzymes, and bioactive compounds that may work synergistically in ways not fully replicated after heat treatment.

There are real biological differences between raw and pasteurized milk, and there are repeated observational associations between raw farm-milk consumption and certain immune outcomes.

Modern science is still working to understand all of the mechanisms behind these findings. But humans consumed raw dairy for thousands of years before pasteurization existed, and I think our ancestors had a pretty good idea of what they were doing. Raw dairy wasn't a health trend. It was a traditional, nutrient-dense food that helped nourish human populations for generations.

Question 36

Are there real health benefits to drinking raw milk?

Accepted Answer

Health officials warn against raw milk because, like many raw foods, it can carry pathogens that cause foodborne illness, including Salmonella, E. coli, Listeria, and Campylobacter. Pasteurization can be an effective way to reduce that microbial risk, which is why public-health agencies recommend pasteurized dairy.

But context matters. Milk from confinement-based, high-density systems is very different from milk produced by small dairies with healthy animals rotated on clean, well-managed pastures under strict hygiene protocols.

Much of the public conversation around raw milk focuses almost exclusively on whether milk is pasteurized, when that is only one part of a much larger food-safety system.

How the milk is produced matters. Animal health matters. Milking hygiene matters. Rapid cooling matters. The cold chain matters. Testing matters.

A 2020 peer-reviewed paper examining dedicated raw-milk production systems in North America and Europe concluded that raw milk can be produced with a high level of hygiene and safety when appropriate animal husbandry, biosecurity, hygienic milking, rapid cooling, cold-chain management, and microbiological testing are used. (That study found that it was cleaner than pasteurized milk!)

That doesn't make raw milk risk-free. No food is risk-free.

The government likes to fear monger and bring up a 2023–24 Salmonella outbreak linked to one California raw dairy that resulted in 171 identified illnesses, with 70% of cases occurring in people under 18. That's serious, and outbreaks like that deserve investigation so we can understand what went wrong and prevent it from happening again.

But foodborne outbreaks aren't unique to raw dairy. In 2024, a multistate Salmonella outbreak linked to cucumbers resulted in 551 reported illnesses and 155 hospitalizations.

Then in 2026 we had a huge Cyclospora outbreak due to.... lettuce!

The point isn't that cucumbers or lettuce are dangerous or that an outbreak linked to another food somehow cancels out the risks of raw milk. It demonstrates that food safety is ultimately about identifying and managing risk across our entire food system.

Consumers interested in raw dairy often ask a slightly different question:

Can we build food systems that reduce risk through exceptional animal health, careful production, sanitation, testing, transparency, and a much closer relationship between the farm and the person eating the food?

We believe we can.

That's why we're so particular about the farms and farmers we work with and how our raw dairy is produced and handled. We have strict operating standards for livestock health, milking parlor cleaning, and we regularly test the milk using the Real Milk institute standards.

Raw milk isn't risk-free. Neither is any food. Our goal isn't to pretend risk doesn't exist. It's to take responsibility for managing it from pasture to bottle while allowing informed adults to decide what foods they want to consume.

One other important point is that raw milk production supports small regenerative farms and decentralizes the food system. In this type of situation, larger food companies and governmental agencies lose control and profits. So they spend a lot of money lobbying to convince legislators that raw dairy is bad for us.

Question 37

Is Nourish Food Club raw yogurt made with A2 milk?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Every yogurt we offer is made from raw, A2 milk and is never heated above 110°F during production. Our cow yogurts are made with milk from genetically tested A2A2 cows, while goat and sheep milk naturally contain A2-type beta-casein.

Our collection includes Raw Whole Milk Greek Yogurt, Raw Skim Milk Greek Yogurt, Raw Skyr Yogurt, Raw Goat Yogurt, and Raw Sheep Yogurt, giving you options across three different dairy animals while maintaining the same raw + A2 standard.

They're all traditionally cultured and made in small batches on small farms, so availability can change from week to week with limited inventory. We restock our farm-fresh food every Friday at 4:30 PM ET.

Question 38

Where does Nourish Food Club raw dairy come from?

Accepted Answer

Our raw dairy comes from small farms raising cows, goats, and sheep on pasture, not anonymous dairy supply chains.

We don't simply source random finished dairy products. We know where the milk comes from, how the animals are raised, what they're fed, and who actually produces the milk, yogurt, kefir, butter, cream, cottage cheese, and other dairy products we offer.

Our dairy animals are rotationally grazed across diverse pasture and raised according to our farming standards. Our cow dairy comes from genetically tested A2A2 cows, while our goats and sheep naturally produce A2-type beta-casein.

We also have strict standards around animal health and management, including no vaccines, added hormones, antibiotics, or chemical dewormers in the animals producing dairy for Nourish.

Because better dairy doesn't begin with the finished product sitting in a container. It begins with the animal, the pasture, the milk, and the farmer caring for all three.

And for us, knowing exactly where our dairy comes from is non-negotiable.

Question 39

Are these raw dairy products intended for human consumption?

Accepted Answer

The Government believes that raw (non-pasteurized) dairy products may contain pathogens that may cause illness, and that the consumption of raw dairy products by humans may significantly increase the risk of food-borne illness.

Accordingly, these raw dairy products are labeled and sold for external cosmetic purposes only and are not intended for human consumption. Our responsibility is to be transparent about what these products are, how they're produced, how they're tested, and how they're legally offered. Food Club members receive that information so they can make their own informed decisions.

That doesn't mean we lower our production standards.

Quite the opposite.

We produce the *highest* quality raw milk and raw dairy cosmetic line to exist.

A healthy environment, healthy animals, cleanliness, sanitary milking and handling practices, raising animals aligned with nature on pasture, and careful temperature control are top priorities. Our raw dairy products are produced with the same rigorous standards we expect for human food.

We also regularly test our raw milk using the internationally recognized Raw Milk Institute (RAWMI) standards for low-risk raw milk production. These standards combine farm-specific risk management with ongoing microbial testing, including stringent standards for Standard Plate Count and coliforms, as well as pathogen testing protocols.

We maintain our own testing system with an independent third party lab and pay for this testing ourselves because verifying the quality and cleanliness of our raw milk is non-negotiable.

And we believe the products you put on your skin deserve the same attention to sourcing and quality as the foods you bring into your home.

That's why we start with raw A2 dairy from pasture-raised animals on small farms and maintain strict standards from the animal and pasture all the way through the finished product.

This restriction applies to the raw dairy products in this collection and does not apply to our separate raw cheese collection. The government deems raw aged cheese as 'safe'.

Question 40

What is pasture raised chicken?

Accepted Answer

Pasture raised chicken comes from birds that have meaningful access to the outdoors, where they can move, scratch, forage, and spend time on grass in the fresh air and sunshine.

But here's something most people don't realize: “pasture raised” tells you very little about what that actually looks like. There is no single federally regulated standard defining how much time a chicken must spend outside, how much pasture each bird receives, or how frequently that pasture must be rotated.

A pasture-raised system can still involve thousands of chickens housed in a large stationary barn with access to the outdoors through small openings.

That's not how we raise our chickens. Nourish isn't one large industrial chicken farm. We're building a network of small regenerative farms, where farmers raise smaller flocks outside on pasture using mobile coops. The chickens are moved onto fresh grass one to two times per day, giving them continual access to fresh pasture where they can forage, scratch, move, and act like chickens.

But how a chicken lives is only half the story. Pasture raised tells you where a chicken lives. It doesn't tell you what the chicken eats.

Unlike cattle, chickens aren't grass-fed animals. While they forage for grasses and insects on pasture, they still rely heavily on supplemental feed to meet their nutritional needs.

In fact, research suggests that pasture-raised meat chickens typically obtain approximately 85–98% of their diet from supplemental feed, even when they have access to fresh pasture!

And that matters because the types of fats in their feed influence the types of fat that end up in their meat, which you then consume.

That's why our chickens aren't just raised on pasture using mobile coops on small regenerative farms. We also formulate our own custom corn- and soy-free, low-Omega 6 Polyunsaturated (PUFA) feed.

Because when it comes to producing truly nourishing pasture-raised chicken, we believe both matter: how the chicken lives and what the chicken eats.

Question 41

Is pasture raised chicken the same as free-range chicken?

Accepted Answer

No. Free-range and pasture raised chicken are not necessarily the same thing.

Free-range chickens may have access to the outdoors while still spending much of their time inside a large stationary barn. Pasture-raised chickens are generally raised with more meaningful access to grass, fresh air, sunshine, and space to forage.

Our pasture raised chicken goes a step further. Our small regenerative partner farms use mobile coops that are moved to fresh pasture one to two times per day, rather than raising thousands of birds in one stationary barn with small doors to the outside.

But there's another important distinction: neither “free-range” nor “pasture raised” tells you what the chicken eats. A free-range chicken and a pasture-raised chicken could be eating essentially the same corn- and soy-based feed. And if it's not labeled otherwise, that is likely GMO corn and soy.

And because chickens are monogastric animals, the fats in that feed directly influence the fatty-acid composition of their meat. Chickens eating diets that are higher in omega 6 PUFAs (like soy) will have more PUFAs in their meat.

That's why our chickens are both mobile pasture raised AND fed our custom corn- and soy-free, low-PUFA feed. Where the chicken lives matters. What the chicken eats matters, too.

Question 42

Is Nourish Food Club chicken corn and soy free?

Accepted Answer

Yes. All of our chicken is raised on a custom corn- and soy-free, low-PUFA feed that we formulate ourselves and make in-house with our feed mill partner.

But simply removing corn and soy isn't enough. Some corn- and soy-free feeds replace them with other ingredients that are also high in omega-6 polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs), defeating one of the main reasons to go corn and soy free.

We formulate the entire feed with the fatty-acid composition of the final chicken in mind. And we take it one step further. We partner directly with regenerative row-crop farmers to source feed ingredients grown without synthetic pesticides, giving us greater oversight of the feed supply from the field all the way to our chickens.

So when we say corn- and soy-free chicken, we're not talking about simply removing two ingredients. We built the entire feed differently from the ground up to provide clean low PUFA chicken.

Question 43

Is soy-free chicken the same as corn- and soy-free chicken?

Accepted Answer

No. Soy-free chicken simply means the chickens aren't fed soy. They may still be fed corn, corn byproducts, or other feed ingredients.

What matters more to us is the overall fatty-acid composition of the feed. Some corn byproducts and ingredients commonly used to replace soy can still be high in omega-6 polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs), particularly linoleic acid.

Because chickens are monogastric animals, the fats they eat can influence the types of fat stored in their meat. So simply removing soy doesn't necessarily produce low-PUFA chicken.

That's why our goal isn't just soy-free chicken or even corn- and soy-free chicken. We formulate the entire diet to be corn-free, soy-free, and low in omega-6 PUFA.

Question 44

Why does chicken feed matter?

Accepted Answer

You are what you eat eats!

Americans consume a lot of omega-6 polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs), particularly linoleic acid, more than previous generations. And this is having disastrous impacts on our metabolic health and is increasing oxidative damage since PUFAs are unstable compounds.

Seed oils are an obvious PUFA source, but there's another source people rarely think about: chicken.

Research examining the U.S. food supply has identified chicken as a significant dietary source of linoleic acid, in part because Americans eat so much of it. Some estimates show chicken is the top source of Omega 6 PUFAs.

So why would chicken contain so much?

First, chickens aren't cows. They can't live on grass alone. Even pasture raised chicken relies heavily on supplemental feed, with research suggesting feed can provide roughly 85–98% of a meat bird's total intake, depending on the production system.

And what's in that feed matters because chickens are monogastric animals. Unlike ruminants such as cattle, chickens don't extensively transform dietary unsaturated fats through rumen biohydrogenation. As a result, the types of fat in their feed strongly influence the types of fat ultimately stored in their meat.

Feeds containing soy, certain corn byproducts, and other high-PUFA ingredients can therefore contribute more linoleic acid to the finished chicken.

That's exactly why we developed our own corn- and soy-free, low-PUFA chicken feed.

And we've tested the finished meat to see if it actually makes a difference. Fatty-acid testing found our chicken contained 52% less linoleic acid and 200% more stearic acid compared with the conventional chicken we tested.

For us, that's the important part. We aren't just making claims about what's missing from the feed. We're testing the chicken to see what actually ends up on your plate.

Question 45

What is low PUFA chicken?

Accepted Answer

Not all chicken contains the same types of fat.

Because chickens are monogastric animals, the fats they eat strongly influence the fats stored in their meat and body fat. When chickens eat feeds high in omega-6 polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs), particularly linoleic acid, more of those fatty acids can accumulate in the chicken you eat.

Low PUFA chicken comes from birds fed a diet intentionally formulated to reduce omega-6 PUFA, especially linoleic acid, in the finished meat.

That's why simply raising chickens on pasture isn't enough. And even corn- and soy-free chicken isn't automatically low PUFA. If corn and soy are replaced with other high-PUFA ingredients, the finished chicken can still contain relatively high levels of linoleic acid.

So we formulate our entire corn and soy free chicken feed from the ground up, carefully selecting ingredients based not only on their protein, energy, vitamins, and minerals, but also on their fatty-acid composition.

The result is measurable. Fatty-acid testing found our chicken contained 52% less linoleic acid than the conventional chicken we tested.

That's what we mean by low PUFA chicken: we're not just changing the ingredient list. We're intentionally changing the fatty-acid profile of the chicken itself.

Question 46

Does corn- and soy-free chicken have less linoleic acid?

Accepted Answer

It can, but corn- and soy-free chicken isn't automatically low in linoleic acid. Because what is the corn and soy replaced with?

Linoleic acid is an omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) found in seed oils, and in many common chicken-feed ingredients because these feed ingredients are cheap, government subsidized and readily available. Because chickens are monogastric animals, the fatty acids in their feed can strongly influence the fatty acids stored in their meat.

Removing corn and soy can help reduce sources of linoleic acid, but what replaces them matters just as much. A corn- and soy-free feed that uses other high-PUFA ingredients may still produce chicken relatively high in linoleic acid.

That's why we don't formulate our feed around a simple “corn- and soy-free” ingredient claim. We formulate the entire diet to be low in PUFA and then test the finished chicken to see what actually ended up in the meat.

Our fatty-acid testing found that Nourish chicken contained 52% less linoleic acid than the conventional chicken we tested.

So the short answer is: corn- and soy-free is part of our approach, but low-PUFA formulation and testing are what tell us whether it actually worked.

Question 47

Is Nourish Food Club chicken raised without antibiotics or hormones?

Accepted Answer

Yes! But there's something important to understand about these claims.

First, added growth hormones are already prohibited in all U.S. poultry production, so seeing "no added hormones" on a chicken package isn't particularly meaningful.

And while antibiotics are permitted in conventional chicken production, regulations require withdrawal periods before slaughter to help prevent unsafe drug residues from entering the food supply.

But here's what we think matters more: What about all the other pharmaceutical interventions used in poultry production?

Antibiotics and hormones are only part of the picture. Poultry producers may also use vaccines, dewormers, coccidiosis medications, and other veterinary drugs that aren't addressed by those two common marketing claims.

That's why we developed our Needle-Free farming standard.

Our pasture raised chicken is raised without vaccines, antibiotics, added hormones, dewormers, or other pharmaceutical interventions.

Instead of relying on routine pharmaceutical protocols, our small regenerative partner farms focus on raising healthy chickens from the beginning through fresh pasture, clean living conditions, frequent pasture rotations, and environments that allow chickens to express their natural behaviors.

We believe the goal should be to build farming systems that support animal health, rather than routinely relying on pharmaceuticals to manage the challenges of intensive production.

Farm-ing, not Pharm-ing.

Question 48

Where does Nourish Food Club chicken come from?

Accepted Answer

Our pasture raised chicken comes from a network of small regenerative partner farms, rather than one large industrial poultry operation.

Each farmer raises smaller flocks outdoors using mobile pasture coops that are moved onto fresh grass one to two times per day. This gives the chickens fresh pasture to forage, scratch, move, and naturally fertilize the land as they rotate across it.

And we're intentionally building Nourish differently as we grow. Instead of scaling by putting more and more chickens on a single farm, we scale by adding more small farmers.

That means more small farms, more farmers making a living from regenerative agriculture, and smaller flocks raised on pasture.

It's our model for growing a better food system: produce more nourishing food while helping regenerate the land and bring back small farms.

Question 49

Is pasture raised chicken better than conventional chicken?

Accepted Answer

Yes, pasture raised chicken can offer meaningful advantages over conventional confinement systems, both for the chickens and the land.

When done well, pasture raising gives chickens more space to move, forage, scratch, and express their natural behaviors. Chickens can be chickens!

If raised regeneratively using a mobile pasture raised approach, rotating mobile coops onto fresh pasture also provides cleaner living conditions and gives birds access to grasses, forts ,insects, and other foods they wouldn't encounter inside a conventional poultry barn.

But there's an important catch: pasture raised doesn't automatically mean better fatty acid profiles.

Meat chickens still get the vast majority of their nutrition from supplemental feed. Research suggests that roughly 85–98% of their intake can come from feed, even when they're raised on pasture. So if pasture-raised and conventional chickens are eating similarly high-PUFA feed rations, their fatty-acid profiles may still be relatively similar.

That's why we focus on both sides of the equation: raising chickens outside on rotating fresh pasture and feeding a custom corn- and soy-free, low-PUFA diet.

How the chicken lives matters. What the chicken eats matters, too.

Question 50

What pasture raised chicken cuts can I order?

Accepted Answer

The Nourish Food Club corn- and soy-free pasture raised chicken collection includes whole chickens, chicken breasts, thighs, wings, drumsticks, ground chicken, chicken bratwursts, chicken sausages, chicken hot dogs, stewing hens, and nose-to-tail options including chicken hearts, livers, and gizzards.

We also use the bones and skin from our pasture raised chickens to make chicken bone broth, traditionally simmered and packaged in glass jars.

This helps us use more of each animal while turning nutrient-rich parts that might otherwise go to waste into another nourishing food.

Because our pasture raised chicken comes from a network of small regenerative farms, availability can change throughout the year and some cuts may occasionally sell out. We believe in using as much of the animal as possible, which is why you'll find everything from everyday chicken cuts to organ meats and whole birds in our collection.

Question 51

Where can I buy pasture raised chicken online?

Accepted Answer

You can buy pasture raised chicken online directly from Nourish Food Club and have it delivered to your home.

Our chicken comes from a network of small regenerative farms where birds are raised outdoors in mobile coops moved to fresh pasture one to two times per day. They're fed our custom corn- and soy-free, low-PUFA feed, formulated specifically to produce chicken lower in omega-6 linoleic acid.

You can shop everything from whole chickens and everyday cuts to sausages, organ meats, and chicken bone broth, all in one place.

If you're looking for pasture raised chicken delivery that goes beyond the pasture-raised label, Nourish gives you transparency into both how your chicken was raised and what it was fed.

Question 52

What is pasture raised pork?

Accepted Answer

Pasture raised pork comes from pigs raised outdoors with space to move, root, forage, explore, and express their natural behaviors.

At Nourish, our pigs aren't raised in confinement barns. They live outside on pasture, where their mobile huts, feeders, and waterers are moved to fresh ground. This gives the pigs clean areas to explore while allowing previously grazed pasture time to rest and recover. They can roam, root through the soil, forage, and enjoy a mud bath, essentially act like pigs!

Our pork also comes from a network of small regenerative farms, rather than one large industrial hog operation. We grow by partnering with more small farmers, not by continually adding more pigs to a single location.

But just like with chicken, how a pig lives is only half the story. Pasture raised tells you where a pig lives. It doesn't tell you what the pig eats.

Pigs aren't grass-fed animals like cattle. They're monogastric animals that can eat grasses, roots, plants, insects, and other foods they find on pasture, but they still rely heavily on supplemental feed to meet their energy, protein, vitamin, and mineral requirements.

In fact, research suggests that pasture-raised growing and finishing pigs commonly obtain approximately 80–95% or more of their nutrition from supplemental feed, depending on how they're raised and managed.

And here's why that matters: pasture-raised pigs and conventionally barn-raised pigs can still be fed very similar corn- and soy-based feed rations. Because pigs are monogastric animals, the fats in that feed strongly influence the fats ultimately stored in their meat and body fat.

That's why our pigs aren't just pasture raised. We also formulate our own custom corn- and soy-free, low-Omega-6 PUFA feed with the fatty-acid composition of the finished pork in mind.

Because when it comes to producing truly nourishing pasture raised pork, we believe both matter: how the pig lives and what the pig eats.

Question 53

What is the difference between pasture raised pork and heritage breed pork?

Accepted Answer

They're describing two different things.

Pasture raised pork describes how the pig is raised. The pigs live outdoors with access to pasture where they can move, root, forage, explore, and express their natural behaviors.

Heritage breed pork describes the genetics of the pig. Heritage breeds are traditional pig breeds that have been maintained over generations and are often valued for characteristics like flavor, marbling, hardiness, and their ability to thrive outdoors.

But heritage breed doesn't automatically mean pasture raised, and pasture raised doesn't automatically mean heritage breed.

A heritage pig can still be raised in a barn and fed a conventional corn- and soy-based ration. Likewise, a pig can be raised regeneratively on pasture without being a heritage breed. And neither label tells you what the pig was fed.

At Nourish, our pasture raised pork comes from small regenerative farms and is fed our custom corn- and soy-free, low-PUFA feed, so that we can provide pork meat with significantly lower levels of Omega 6 PUFAs.

We also offer limited quantities of heritage breed Meishan pork seasonally from our own Angel Acres Farm. Meishans are an ancient heritage pig breed, and ours are raised regeneratively outdoors using a mobile pasture system and our custom corn- and soy-free feed.

Question 54

Is Nourish Food Club pork corn and soy free?

Accepted Answer

Yes. All of our pasture raised pork is raised on a custom corn- and soy-free, low-PUFA feed that we formulate ourselves and make in-house with our feed mill partner.

But simply removing corn and soy isn't enough. Some corn- and soy-free feeds replace them with other ingredients that are also high in omega-6 polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs), defeating one of the main reasons we formulate our feed this way.

Because pigs are monogastric animals, the fats they eat strongly influence the fats stored in their meat and body fat.

Research shows that conventional pork can have the same amount of Omega 6 PUFAs as Canola Oil.

That's why we formulate the entire diet with the fatty-acid composition of the finished pork in mind.

And we take it one step further. We partner directly with regenerative row-crop farmers to source feed ingredients grown without synthetic pesticides, giving us greater oversight of the feed supply from the field all the way to our pigs.

So when we say corn- and soy-free pork, we're not talking about simply removing two ingredients. We built the entire feed differently from the ground up to produce clean, low-PUFA, pasture-raised pork.

Question 55

Is soy-free pork the same as corn- and soy-free pork?

Accepted Answer

No. Soy-free pork simply means the pigs aren't fed soy. They may still be fed corn, corn byproducts, or other feed ingredients high in omega-6 polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs).

One ingredient commonly used in pig feed is distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS), a byproduct of corn ethanol production. Because much of the corn's starch is removed during fermentation, the remaining nutrients, including corn oil rich in omega-6 linoleic acid, become more concentrated in DDGS.

And that matters because pigs are monogastric animals. The fats they eat strongly influence the fats stored in their meat and body fat. So removing soy while continuing to feed ingredients high in linoleic acid doesn't necessarily produce low-PUFA pork.

That's why our goal isn't simply soy-free pork, or even just corn- and soy-free pork. We formulate the entire diet to be corn-free, soy-free, and low in omega-6 PUFA, with the fatty-acid composition of the finished pork in mind.

Question 56

Why does pig feed matter?

Accepted Answer

You are what you eat eats!

Americans consume substantially more omega-6 polyunsaturated fat (PUFA), particularly linoleic acid, than previous generations, which is negatively impacting metabolic health. Seed oils are an obvious source, but there's another source people don't always think about: pork.

Pork can contribute meaningful amounts of linoleic acid to the diet, especially when you consider how many forms of pork we regularly eat: bacon, sausage, pork chops, pork belly, ribs, pulled pork, ground pork, and lard.

So why does pork contain high levels of Omega 6 PUFA linoleic acid in the first place?

First, pigs aren't cows. They can't live on grass alone. Even pasture raised pigs rely heavily on supplemental feed to meet their nutritional needs. Research on pasture-based growing and finishing pigs suggests that approximately 80–95% or more of their nutrition can come from supplemental feed, depending on how the pigs are raised and managed.

In fact, research has found that when pigs have unrestricted access to a complete feed ration, pasture may provide less than 5% of their nutritional requirements in some systems.

And what's in that feed matters tremendously.

Pigs are monogastric animals. Unlike cattle, they don't have a rumen that extensively transforms dietary unsaturated fats through biohydrogenation. As a result, the types of fat a pig eats strongly influence the types of fat ultimately stored in its body fat.

That means a pasture raised pig and a conventionally barn-raised pig can be eating very similar corn- and soy-based feed rations, resulting in surprisingly similar fatty-acid profiles in the finished pork. In fact, research comparing outdoor and indoor pigs fed the same standardized ration has found that pasture access alone had relatively little effect on pork composition.

Feeds containing soy, corn byproducts such as distillers dried grains (DDGS), and other high-PUFA ingredients can provide substantial amounts of linoleic acid, which can then accumulate in the pig's fat.

That's exactly why we developed our own corn- and soy-free, low-PUFA pig feed.

For us, pasture raising and feed formulation aren't competing ideas. Pasture determines how our pigs live. Feed plays a major role in determining the types of fat in the pork you ultimately eat.

Question 57

What is low PUFA pork?

Accepted Answer

Not all pork contains the same types or amounts of fat.

Because pigs are monogastric animals, the fats they eat strongly influence the fats stored in their meat and body fat.When pigs eat diets high in omega-6 polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs), particularly linoleic acid, more of those fatty acids can accumulate in the pork you eat.

And the difference can be substantial! Research has demonstrated that changing the fats in a pig's diet can dramatically change the fatty-acid composition of its body fat. In some feeding studies, pork fat has contained surprisingly high levels of PUFAs, approaching those found in certain vegetable oils.

Pasture raised pork can have this same types of fat as conventional pork since the types of fat in both feeds used are very similar.

Low PUFA pork comes from pigs fed a diet intentionally formulated to reduce omega-6 PUFA, especially linoleic acid, in the finished meat and fat.

That's why simply raising pigs on pasture isn't enough. And even corn- and soy-free pork isn't automatically low PUFA. If corn and soy are replaced with other high-PUFA ingredients, the finished pork can still contain relatively high levels of linoleic acid.

So we formulate our entire corn- and soy-free pig feed from the ground up, carefully selecting ingredients based not only on their protein, energy, vitamins, and minerals, but also on their fatty-acid composition.

This is particularly important for pork because we consume so much of the animal's fat directly, whether that's in bacon, sausage, pork belly, pork shoulder, or lard.

That's what we mean by low PUFA pork: we're not just changing the ingredient list. We're intentionally changing the fatty-acid profile of the pork itself.

Question 58

Does corn- and soy-free pork have less linoleic acid?

Accepted Answer

It can, but corn- and soy-free pork isn't automatically low in linoleic acid. The important question is: what are the corn and soy replaced with?

Linoleic acid is an omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) found in seed oils and many common pig-feed ingredients. Because pigs are monogastric animals, the fatty acids in their feed strongly influence the fatty acids stored in their meat and body fat.

Even feeds marketed as soy-free can contain other high-PUFA ingredients. For example, distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS), a byproduct of corn ethanol production commonly used in pig feed, can be a concentrated source of corn oil and linoleic acid.

Removing corn and soy can help reduce sources of linoleic acid, but what replaces them matters just as much. A corn- and soy-free feed formulated with other high-PUFA ingredients can still produce pork relatively high in linoleic acid.

That's why we don't formulate our feed around a simple “corn- and soy-free” ingredient claim. We formulate the entire diet to be low in omega-6 PUFA, and then test the finished pork to see if it actually worked.

Our fatty-acid testing found that Nourish ground pork contained 51% less linoleic acid and 47% less total PUFA than the USDA conventional pork reference.

So the short answer is: corn- and soy-free is part of our approach, but low-PUFA formulation and finished-product testing are what tell us whether it actually resulted in lower-PUFA pork.

Question 59

Is Nourish Food Club pork raised without antibiotics or hormones?

Accepted Answer

Yes! But there's something important to understand about these claims.

First, added growth hormones are already prohibited in U.S. pork production, so seeing “no added hormones” on a package of pork doesn't tell you much about how that pig was actually raised.

Antibiotics are permitted in conventional pork production under regulated conditions. But we think it's important to zoom out beyond just antibiotics and hormones because those are only two of the pharmaceutical interventions available in pork production. Depending on the production system, pigs may also receive vaccines, dewormers, medications for disease prevention, and other veterinary drugs.

That's why we developed our Needle-Free farming standard.

Our pasture raised pork comes from pigs raised without vaccines, antibiotics, added hormones, dewormers, or other pharmaceutical interventions.

Instead of building routine pharmaceutical interventions into the production system, our small regenerative partner farms focus on supporting animal health from the beginning.

Our pigs live outdoors with room to move, root, forage, and express their natural behaviors. Their mobile huts, feeders, and waterers are regularly moved onto fresh pasture, providing cleaner living conditions, lower-stress environments, and fresh ground while allowing previously grazed areas to rest and recover.

And health isn't just about where an animal lives. Our pigs also receive a nutritionally complete feed with adequate calories, protein, vitamins, and minerals to support healthy growth and normal immune function. We formulate that feed ourselves without corn, soy, or other high-PUFA ingredients.

We believe that when you change how an animal lives, reduce unnecessary stress, provide clean living conditions, and properly nourish it, you can reduce the need to rely on pharmaceuticals to keep it healthy.

Rather than designing a production system around managing the challenges of intensive confinement, we're building one that works with the animals' natural behaviors and needs.

Farm-ing, not Pharm-ing.

Question 60

Where does Nourish Food Club pork come from?

Accepted Answer

Our pasture raised pork comes from a network of small regenerative partner farms, rather than one large industrial hog operation.

Our farmers raise smaller groups of pigs outdoors on pasture, where mobile huts, feeders, and waterers are moved onto fresh ground. This gives the pigs space to root, forage, explore, and act like pigs while allowing previously grazed areas to rest and recover.

And we're intentionally scaling differently. Instead of putting more and more pigs on a single farm, we are slowly growing by adding more small farmers to our network.

More small farms. More regenerative farmers. Healthier animals. Healthier land. And better food.

Question 61

How is pasture raised pork different from conventional pork?

Accepted Answer

The biggest difference is how the pigs live.

Conventional pigs are commonly raised indoors, while pasture raised pigs have access to the outdoors where they can move, root, forage, explore, and express their natural behaviors. Our pigs live outside on rotating pasture, with mobile huts, feeders, and waterers moved onto fresh ground.

Pasture also gives pigs access to sunlight and a more diverse diet of grasses, roots, plants, and other foods they forage. Sun exposure can increase vitamin D concentrations in pork, while forage can provide additional plant compounds and contribute to differences in the flavor and nutritional composition of the meat.

But pasture raised doesn't automatically mean nutritionally different pork. Feed still matters.

Research comparing pigs raised indoors versus outdoors while eating the same standardized feed ration found relatively small differences in the overall composition of the pork. That's important because pasture-raised and conventional pigs can still be eating very similar corn- and soy-based feeds.

And because pigs are monogastric animals, the fats in that feed strongly influence the fats stored in their meat and body fat.

That's why our pigs aren't simply pasture raised. They're raised on small regenerative farms and fed our custom corn- and soy-free, low-PUFA feed.

For us, producing better pork means changing both how the pig lives and what the pig eats.

Question 62

What pasture raised pork cuts can I order?

Accepted Answer

The Nourish Food Club corn- and soy-free pasture raised pork collection includes pork chops, pork tenderloin, shoulder roasts, ribs, bacon, ground pork, breakfast sausage, bratwursts, chorizo, and other sausages, along with nose-to-tail cuts and organ meats.

We also use the bones from our pasture raised pigs to make pork bone broth, traditionally simmered and packaged in glass jars. It's another way we use more of each animal rather than letting nutrient-rich parts go to waste.

Because our pork comes from a network of small regenerative farms, availability changes throughout the year. Some cuts may sell out while others return as new pigs are harvested.

Seasonality doesn't only apply to produce. It's part of working with small farms and whole animals, too.

Question 63

Where can I buy pasture raised pork online?

Accepted Answer

You can buy pasture raised pork online directly from Nourish Food Club and have it conveniently delivered right to your doorstep!

Unlike conventional pork, our corn- and soy-free pasture raised pork comes from a network of small regenerative farms where pigs live outdoors on rotating pasture and are fed our custom low-PUFA feed. We even test the finished pork to verify its fatty-acid composition.

From pork chops and bacon to sausage, roasts, ribs, and bone broth, we make it easy to stock your freezer with high-quality pork without having to source from multiple farms.

One virtual farmstand. One checkout. Farm-fresh food delivered to your door.

Shop Our Corn- & Soy-Free Pasture Raised Pork →

Question 64

What does 100% grass fed and finished beef mean?

Accepted Answer

100% grass fed and finished beef comes from cattle that eat grass and other pasture plants for their entire lives, including the important finishing stage before harvest. They are never fed grain.

Most cattle begin their lives eating grass. In the conventional beef system, however, many are eventually moved to feedlots, large confined areas where cattle are grouped together and fed energy-dense rations, often built around grains and grain byproducts, to rapidly increase weight gain before harvest.

Cattle are also very different from single-stomach animals like chickens and pigs. They are ruminants, with a complex four-compartment digestive system uniquely adapted to ferment grasses and other fibrous plants. When grazing healthy, diverse pasture, cattle can obtain the energy, protein, vitamins, and minerals they need from forage.

Cattle can digest grain, but high-grain diets change how fermentation occurs in the rumen and can lower rumen pH. Grain finishing also provides a much more energy-dense diet, which can accelerate weight gain and increase fat deposition and marbling.

Nourish Food Club's 100% grass fed beef comes from cattle that remain on diverse pasture from beginning to end, grazing the grasses and other plants their digestive systems are naturally adapted to utilize. They are never sent to feedlots and never grain finished.

That's why the word “finished” matters. When we say 100% grass fed and grass finished beef, we mean pasture and forage from beginning to end, with no grain finish hidden at the end.

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