Central Market Touts Exclusive Lamb

HOUSTON — Central Market is the exclusive Texas retailer for Lava Lake Lamb.

The grass-fed lamb — available in loin chops, rib racks, and legs — hit store shelves last month and will be sold through September. The lamb comes from Lava Lake, rangeland just outside Sun Valley, Idaho. The area has no fences and few roads.

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“It quickly became clear to our market team that visited Lava Lake this June, that the bands of about 1,000 sheep have the right of way in this area of Idaho," Central Market writes on its website.

A team of horse-mounted shepherds and a group of border collies and Great Pyrenees help guide the sheep from the south base camp 125 miles into the northern mountains. This trek allows the lamb to graze on wild grasses and herbs in the late spring and early summer, which keeps the animals healthy, according to Central Market.

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The lambs are never given antibiotics or hormones, and drink mother's milk all their lives, which results in a fit, healthy animal with a distinctive, mild flavor, that is also very rich in omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin E and beta-carotene, and lower in fat than grain-fed meat, according to promotional materials.

Elsewhere in the U.S., Lava Lake lamb is sold at Heinen’s in Ohio and McCaffrey’s in New Jersey, among a few other retailers.