BONE MARROW

Question
Hiya!
The other day I puzzled my brains to find the answer regarding bone marrow eating... No matter all the putative difficulties in obtaining this raw fat I decided at last  to try it out. Right away some questions has popped up, so I ask you for an advice, both practical and theoretical.
As you referred to Stefansson in you previuos posts there are two types of marrow, one type from the lower leg which is soft "more like a particularly delicious cream in flavor" and another from the humerus and femur that is "hard and tallowy at room temperatures." From my rather short experience of marrow consuption I found both types very tasty but still prefer the softer one though. So I'd like to ask wether there is any difference between them in respect of nutrition value? Is, say, a beef marrow a good choice?
Then, as for more practical dilemma. I first thought that obtaining bone marrow is problematic in my country due to unpopularity of this fat here and that elsewhere people can get it ready to eat. I mean, it seems now, that you too purchase it in bones and then extract it. How on earth do you do that? Can you suggest an easy way? I personally hit it hard with the hammer until the bones are cracked so that the marrow is available. It's rather loudy and strange-to-see procedure. But, as I figured out, health demands of us tolerance of all its forms, so that's not much the problem. But what about those fragments resulting from shattering the bones, they can damage you teeth...
And, finally, is bone marrow a good source of fat to fully rely on? It seems to form a basis of you diet, isn't it? Maybe you could share some other valuable thoughts on the topic... a primer or a guideline of a kind...
Anyway, thank you much for the words of encouragement!
Yuriy

Answer
I have no idea as to whether there is any difference between the two, as there havne't been any comparison-studies done, to my knowledge. I have been told that the marrow from older cattle is invariably of the hard and tallowy type at room-temperature, with younger cattle having softer marrow, overall. So I would assume that the softer marrow is slightly better.However, this is relatively immaterial as all kinds of marrow are very useful for health, and given the greater difficulty in finding sources of raw marrow, as compared to muscle-meats, it's not a good idea to antagonise the farmers by insisting on only marrow from the lower leg etc.

Ox or beef marrow is fine. It's much more difficult to get hold of marrow from other animals as they're usually considered too small for farmers to bother with. Apart from the ox/beef marrow which I get all the time, the only other marrow I've  been able to get hold of is deer/venison marrow, and then only during the September-April hunting season.

All the marrow I buy, these days,  is automatically sawed by the farmer into 2 to 6 inches-long  chunks of bone, with marrow at both ends (1 inch equals 2.5 centimetres). I then leave it at room-temperature for a while - marrow often becomes much softer, if left at room-temperature for several hours, but not always) I then push a knife into the marrow and move the knife around in a circle, pushing it in, and scrape it off the sides etc., until all the marrow comes out - and then I just use a spoon to scoop up the marrow. There are often tiny fragments of bone naturally present in the marrow in very small quantities, but I usually see them and put them away before eating(I never swallow them as I always detect them in my mouth beforehand).

I've only on two occasions had farmers just give me their entire bone to cut up by myself. It was a major hassle to do so as farmers have access to much better industrial machinery to saw through the bone. Both of those farmers were simply inexperienced and had never sold marrow before. So I went back to my more regular suppliers of marrow. All I can suggest is that you ask your supplier to cut up the bones beforehand(perhaps you could pretend you have a dog which can't handle eating the bones unless they're cut up)  - if he's reluctant, offer to pay extra.

Here's a detailed, scientific rundown of the various nutrients in bone-marrow:-

http://tinyurl.com/22tgh

Basically, brain and bone-marrow both have stem-cells in them as well as very healthy DHA-rich fats. It's these fats that Loren Cordain and other Palaeo gurus point out as being responsible for Man's evolution of a much larger brain.

I do tend to rely on marrow as my main source of fat - I also get fats in the form of raw suet, raw tongue or raw brain, and occasionally raw eggs(it's a good idea not to overdo raw egg consumption) - but raw brain is very difficult to get hold of in my country, and, while I don't mind it as such, raw suet just doesn't compare in taste to marrow.

Hope This Helps
RPG

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