The Wagyu Breed
Wagyu means cattle (gyu) from Japan (wa).
The Wagyu cattle breed is descended from the first cattle that arrived in the Japanese archipelago to help with agricultural work. Because it is an archipelago and has a mountainous geography, these animals that arrived in Japan were isolated in small herds and their genetics did not undergo substantial changes.
Cattle breeding in Japan was officially closed for over 200 years through the mandate of a shogun (army commander, a title directly granted by the emperors of the time), which lasted from 1635 until 1854.
With the Meiji Restoration in 1868, the government encouraged the importation of other European breeds for crossbreeding with native cows.
Each of the various regions where cattle were raised preferred different breeds for crossbreeding, so that regional variety became enormous.
The two main regions where Black Wagyu developed are Tottori and Tajima.
Around 96% of the Wagyu animals in the world are still in Japan and of these, Black Wagyu represents around 90%.
With the mechanization of agriculture and economic prosperity, these animals went from being work animals to meat producers and it was soon realized that the quality of this meat is something that cannot be compared to any other meat in the world, hence the protectionism of the Japanese towards such a treasure.
In Japan they classify meat by region, just like we do in Portugal with wine (Kobe, Ohmi, Matsuaka...)
To date, only 183 live Wagyu animals have left Japan, and as 27 of these cows were pregnant, there are a total of 221 animals exported from Japan and they constitute the genetic base of all Wagyu animals outside Japan.
The extraordinary and unparalleled marbling of Wagyu meat has a scientific explanation, the Delta-9 gene, responsible for the Desaturase process.
What is the Desaturase process?
This process occurs in all cattle, but its effectiveness varies from breed to breed.
It is a cellular process where enzymes are released that transform stearic acid into oleic acid, that is, they transform saturated fat that is harmful to health into unsaturated fat, the famous OMEGA 3 and OMEGA 6 that are beneficial to health and whose consumption is highly recommended by doctors, nutritionists and the World Health Organization.
