Liver is Nature's Multivitamin

Of all the parts of a deer, liver is the one people have prized the longest. In Europe, cooks have turned it into pâté and terrine for centuries. Japan has its own long tradition of レバー [rebā, liver] cooking. Long before anyone measured a vitamin, liver carried a reputation as a kind of natural tonic.

The modern figures support that reputation. Liver is one of the most nutrient-dense foods there is. Gram for gram, very little else in the natural world is as concentrated.

The liver in our VENISON + APPLE topper recipe comes from the same wild sika deer (ニホンジカ [nihonjika, Japanese sika deer]) as the muscle meat and heart.

Why a measured amount

Liver is naturally rich in vitamin A, copper, iron, folate, vitamin B12 and choline. That is exactly why it goes into our recipe in a small, carefully measured amount: a few percent, no more.

Vitamin A is fat-soluble and copper is a trace mineral. Both are stored in the body rather than flushed out, and there are well-established upper limits for vitamin A in dog food. Liver is potent enough that a little goes a long way. Getting the proportion right is part of the craft of the food.

It is the same when people eat liver: a smear of pâté on bread, not a plateful. Using just a little is what lets its flavour come through.

The care is the quality

Liver is one of the most perishable parts of animal meat. That makes handling after the hunt especially important.

The deer in our recipe are processed the same day they are taken, at a meat-processing facility in Nagano. As with wild game prepared for people, hygiene is managed under Nagano's Shinshu gibier hygiene guidelines (信州ジビエ衛生管理ガイドライン).

Fresh liver is unmistakable at a glance: deep burgundy and fine-grained. It is almost silky, with a mineral, umami depth. We use only a little of it in VENISON + APPLE, but that little is packed with flavour and nutrients. Not just the muscle meat and heart, but right down to the darkest, most concentrated part: the whole animal goes to good use.

We give our dogs' meals the same care we give our own. Taking care over the flavour and background of every ingredient is the foundation of how Karuizawa Harvest makes food.

Notes & sources

• Liver nutrients (vitamin A, copper, iron, folate, vitamin B12, choline, etc.): USDA FoodData Central; Standard Tables of Food Composition in Japan 2020 (Eighth Revised Edition) (MEXT Food Composition Database)

• Vitamin A as a fat-soluble vitamin stored in the body: NIH Office of Dietary Supplements, "Vitamin A and Carotenoids"