Kobe beef
The Kobe beef ( Japanese 神 戸 牛 , Kobe-gyū , dt. "Kobe beef") refers to cattle from the region around Kobe . It is not a separate breed of domestic cattle, but merely a designation of origin for the breed of Tajima cattle .
Outside of Japan, the cattle are often referred to as Wagyū , but this is a collective term that includes other Japanese cattle breeds in addition to the Tajima cattle.
The import of Kobe beef into the EU has only been possible since mid-July 2014.
The meat of the cattle has a particularly tender structure and excellent marbling with fine veins of fat. This beef is the most heavily marbled meat of all cattle breeds. In addition, the meat has the lowest percentage of saturated fatty acids.
There are all sorts of myths and stories about the Kobe beef: the cattle should be massaged and given beer. But that cannot be proven. The Kobe cattle are only massaged when the natural run-out areas are insufficient, which is supposed to support the development of the fat marbling. The myth that cattle receive beer comes from the fact that they are fed a mix of grains silage, soy, rice straw, corn, barley, wheat bran and pure spring water. The Kobe cattle receive this feed mix for 20–22 months after they have moved and fed in small herds in the pasture for eight to ten months. It is also a fact that cattle from Kobe are given three times as much time on average as conventional cattle before they are ready for slaughter. Until then, artificial growth hormones or antibiotics etc. are usually not used. The cattle are also usually smaller or lighter than normal beef cattle. That alone makes keeping them complex and expensive.
Kobe beef is the most expensive beef in the world. A kilogram of real Kobe beef costs 400 to 600 euros, sometimes even more. In addition to the very complex breeding, the restrictive quality features for real Kobe beef also determine the price: The Japanese rate the quality of their beef in 5 quality classes from level 5 (very good) to level 1, of which only pieces from levels 4 to 5 are in the Get west.
The population outside of Japan arose from animals that were exported to the United States for scientific purposes in the mid-1990s. Due to the increasing demand for the meat, more and more breeders around the world are deciding to partially or even completely switch to “Kobe” beef.
Especially in the USA and Australia, the Kobe breed is spreading rapidly. The first such animals were born in Germany in 2006. The marketing of meat, live cattle, embryos and seeds produced in this way in Germany is coordinated by the Wagyū breeders' association.
Web links
- Kobe Beef (English, Japanese, Chinese)
- Association of Wagyu breeders in Germany
- Wagyu Association Austria
Individual evidence
- ↑ Peter Wagner: Recipe for yakiniku from Wagyu entrecôte with Shirataki noodle salad . In: SPIEGEL Online . July 26, 2014. Accessed on July 26, 2014: "Since mid-July we have also supplied Europe, initially two importers in Germany and one each in Denmark and Monaco"
- ↑ Sascha Bunda: right Kobe Beef is now conquering the EU . In: Falstaff.de . September 8, 2014. Accessed March 16, 2015.
- ↑ Berthold Kohler: Kobe cattle - a visit to a legendary animal . In: FAZ.net . June 29, 2009. Retrieved March 16, 2015.
- ^ Herbert Hacker: Icons: Japan's meat fetish. In: falstaff. Falstaff Deutschland GmbH, October 27, 2016, accessed on November 7, 2016 .