You may have noticed more people talking about seed oils. Leading nutritionists tell us that they are at the root of much of modern inflammation and disease.

Seed oils cause inflammation and disease because they are mostly composed of Poly-Unsaturated Fatty Acids (PUFAs). PUFAs react very easily with oxygen at any temperature. In the body, this means that they deplete your antioxidants (for example Vitamin E). As a result, you feel sluggish and negative after you consume them.

In the longer term, seed oils/PUFAs become stubborn fat that you just can't lose, because the body can't use them for anything positive. As a result, seed oil heavy diets can lead to excess weight accumulation, which makes it hard to feel and look your best.

In addition to being absolutely delicious and the most sustainable way to fry, tallow is very good for you! Grass is very nutrient dense, but we're not well built to digest it ourselves. Fortunately for us, cows are.

Healthy cows, eating their natural food (grass) will store huge amounts of nutrients, making grass-fed tallow an incredible source of vitamins and minerals. Grass-fed Tallow is:

1. An excellent source of true vitamin A (retinol), which is essential for good skin health

2. A souce of other important fat soluble vitamins D, E, and K2

3. A source of choline, palmitoleic acid and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), which have functions for nervous system health, anti-inflammation and anti-bacterial immune function

“Nixtamalization” is an ancient process used over thousands of years by the traditional Mesoamerican cultures to improve the healthful effects of eating corn.

It involves boiling the corn with naturally occurring minerals (namely limestone), which makes the corn more digestible, reduces mycotoxins that commonly affect corn, and makes nutrients like Vitamin B3 more bioavailable.

The result is a healthier, tastier food that maximizes the nutrient potential of one of the world’s oldest crops.

MASA is...

• 100% gluten free (not certified though),
• 100% nut free,
• 100% dairy free (for now... we're working on a cheese flavor!),
• NOT vegan,
• NOT vegetarian,
• Non-GMO,
• Not organic, but the corn itself is 100% certified organic,
• Not Keto/low carb,
• Not kosher or halal,
• And most importantly, 100% SEED OIL FREE

MASA is is not certified organic. However, we have sourced organic ingredients where we think it matters, and have intentionally sourced our non-organic ingredients where we think they are better.

Specifically, organic tallow is not required to be 100% grass fed, and grass fed is more important than organic, especially since most high quality cattle ranches are not certified organic.

The corn is 100% certified organic, which is very important since conventional corn is commonly sprayed with the worst pesticides.

Lastly, our only spices which are not certified organic come from Burlap & Barrel, which sells perhaps the highest quality spices anywhere, since they buy them directly from small artisanal farms globally.

We know the CEO— he literally flies around the world to meet the generational spice farmers he sources from and inspects their farms.

Most of these farms are in countries where the economics of certification are cost prohibitive, so while they aren’t certified, they are still grown naturally, which is what actually matters.

Tallow is "rendered beef fat"-- basically, pure fat without any proteins or connective tissue. It's basically bacon grease, but from a cow.

Tallow has been used for millennia for many purposes, from soapmaking to candles, food and cosmetics.

However, after about 70 years of falling into disuse, tallow is regaining popularity because of it's quality fatty acid profile, nutrient content, and natural, unprocessed origins.

Yes, the tallow we use is 100% grass fed (which means grass finished too!)

There are no additives either-- it is 100% pure tallow.

About 120 days from the date of production.

This is shorter than most seed-oil based chips (which last 9+ months), since seed oils are chemically deodorized to prevent you from noticing the effects of oxidation.

Tallow of course is not made with such artifice, and therefore have a shorter shelf life.

We doubt they will last that long in your pantry though ;)

The MASA (and Vandy) flavors are the only products made in our owned-and-operated facility. You won't see "made in a facility that also processes ten different allergens" on our labels.

However, we do not have any allergen certifications, and therefore encourage all customers with allergies to exercise caution when consuming anything made outside their home.

No, we don't use any chemical preservatives (or artificial flavor additives, like citric acid or yeast extract).

However the bags are packed with nitrogen gas which replaces the oxygen content to prevent oxidation and rancidity. Importantly, this does not affect the chemistry of the food itself.

GMO'd and sprayed with toxic pesticides, fertilizers, and folic acid; indeed, most conventional corn is among the least healthy foods you could eat.

However, it is this common but low quality corn that is the problem-- not corn itself.

When corn is both nixtamalized and organic (like MASA), many health and wellness experts find it to be one of the most digestible carb sources available.

No pesticides, no mycotoxins, no GMOs, no artificial chemicals, fully digestible, and delicious-- what more could you ask for?

MASA Chips have similar calories and fat content per oz. as most other corn tortilla chips.

However, studies have shown that people will eat hundreds more calories per meal before they feel full when the fat comes from seed oils, as opposed to a saturated fat like tallow or butter. This excess calorie intake makes it incredibly hard to lose weight on a diet full of seed oils.

That's why our customers commonly tell us they end up eating fewer calories of MASA before they feel full, compared to typical tortilla chips.

Although we haven't conducted a formal study (yet), many of our customers who also use CGMs have told us that they don't see a noticeable spike in blood sugar after eating MASA.

The combination of whole grain corn and saturated fat should not cause a spike like many of the carbs you're familiar with.