GRASS FED & PASTURED LAMB
Our lamb is repeatedly praised by customers for it’s tender texture and mild flavor. We offer a wide selection of lamb cuts: from ever-popular rib chops to succulent leg roasts to (the lesser-known) shoulder roasts and sausage.Â
Like all of our animals, Return to Earth’s pastured lamb are raised without the use of antibiotics, steroids, or growth hormones.
Offered Cuts
LOIN CHOPS are cut from the loin of the lamb and offer a tender, lean meat that is straightforward to cook and hugely versatile. An excellent choice for both a quick weekday dinner or an elevated dinner party.
BONE-IN RACKÂ is one of the most sought-after and impressive cuts of lamb! Its popularity is likely due to its incredibly juicy meat which lends itself to an extensive array of rubs and marinades. As an added bonus, this cut is fantastic when paired with a wide assortment of sides.
LEG ROASTS are our personal favourite form of lamb. Cut from the hind leg, a leg roast or leg steak produces a juicy, lean meat which lends itself to a dry heat cooking method: i.e., roasting or grilling.
SHOULDER ROAST & STEAKSÂ are mild yet flavorful cuts produced from the upper fore-leg of the lamb. These cuts are best slow-cooked (in a rich braise!) as this allows time for the strong connective tissues to break down resulting in an amazingly tender and fall-off-the-bone experience
LAMB SAUSAGES are an amazing variation on the standard pork sausage. Shake up your grill rotation with these flavor powerhouses that perfectly pair juicy lamb meat with a spice selection featuring rosemary and thyme.Â
SHANKS are a delicious and economical cut from the lower portion of the leg. Unmistakable in appearance, shanks are delicious in either a stew or braise.
GROUND meat of any kind is highly versatile and economical. Use ground lamb anywhere you would use ground beef. It is especially good as a burger, meatball, kafta, or in a shepherd’s pie (for which it was the original meat of choice!)
LAMB BURGERS sit at the top tier of the highly competitive burger world (in our humble opinion). A delectable spin on the homely classic, a lamb burger topped with quick-pickled red onion, feta, arugula, and tzatziki is a meal worth writing home about.
COOKING YOUR LAMB
RIB / LOIN
Rack
Chops
LEG
Leg
Shanks
SHOULDER
Shoulder
OTHER CUTS
Ground
Sausage
Burgers
BRAISE / STEW
FRY
GRILL
ROAST
HOW WE RAISE OUR LAMB
Return to Earth’s lambs are grass-fed and raised in alignment with local seasons as much as is possible. This enables us to keep our animals on pasture for the majority of their lives so they can take full advantage of the varied fresh forage available.
Weather allowing, our lambs are raised in a light-filled greenhouse structure until they are old enough to move out onto pasture. Once outside, we manage the grazing patterns of our lambs by rotating them through a number of successive paddocks. In doing so, we ensure that each paddock is uniformly, but not overly grazed which helps to ensure high forage yield for the flock while also supporting overall animal health and protecting the pasture ecosystem through the protection and maintenance of plant biodiversity.
Our lamb meat’s hallmark traits are its tender texture and mild flavor. This is achieved due to the low-stress environment our animals are raised in and the fact that we prioritize young (tender) lamb over maximized output. Meaning our animals are butchered “young” at roughly 9-12 months of age: well before they transition from ‘lamb’ to ‘hogget’ and begin to take on the distinctively musty taste of mutton.
WHY PASTURED?
The meat from 100% grass-fed lamb raised on pasture offers significant benefits over that from animals raised with a diet which includes grains, including up to:
3x more omega-3s & 2x more long-chain omega-3s
1.8x more conjugated linoleic acid (CLA)
85% lower omega-6 : omega-3 ratio
1.7x higher polyunsaturated : saturated fat ratio
2.3x more vitamin E
1.4x more vitamin A
Also, it tastes something awesome!