• Origin: Shodoshima Island, Kagawa Prefecture, Japan
• Grade: A5
• Marble Score: 10-12
• Lineage: Japanese Black (Kuroge)
• Certificate Included

⭐ A5 Sanuki Olive-Fed Ribeye — Winner, 2017 Wagyu Olympics (Fat Quality)

At the 2017 Wagyu Olympics — the national competition Japan holds once every five years — Olive-Fed Wagyu took top honors for fat quality. It also carries the highest concentration of oleic acid of any beef on the planet. Oleic acid is the omega-9 that gives olive oil its character; here it lowers the melting point of the fat so far that the marbling begins to soften at body temperature.

That is not marketing. It is why this steak eats differently from every other A5 in the case.

It comes from Shodoshima Island in Kagawa Prefecture, which produces 99% of Japan's olive oil. Following the principle of mottainai — waste nothing — local farmers roast the pressed olive pulp left over from oil production and fold it into the cattle feed alongside Italian ryegrass and rice straw. The result is Sanuki Olive Wagyu: golden-tinted fat, a clean nutty sweetness on the finish, and marbling that reads almost translucent.

Production is tiny. Fewer than 3,000 head a year carry the certification, and we acquire it seasonally when we can get it.

This is the Ribeye — cut from the rib primal, the most heavily marbled section of the animal. You get the wide snowflaked eye plus the spinalis cap, the richest bite on the carcass, and on Olive-Fed that cap carries the olive-oil note most clearly.

Flavor Profile

• Clean, almost sweet finish — the signature of the olive-pulp diet
• Golden fat that melts below body temperature
• Highest oleic acid of any beef; a lighter feel than its marbling suggests
• Nutty, olive-oil-forward where other A5 reads purely buttery

How to cook it: hot cast iron, no added fat, roughly 60-90 seconds per side. Salt only — nothing else belongs near it. Rest briefly, slice across the grain, and serve small: 4 to 6 oz per person is plenty at this marble score.

If you've had Miyazaki or Kagoshima A5 and want to taste what a feed program does to a carcass, this is the one. Each order comes with a certificate of authenticity. Steaks sold individually.

Click here to learn more about marble scores.

Each portioned piece is individually packaged and vacuum sealed. In order to maximize freshness during delivery, we blast freeze our cuts and ship them with dry ice in a reusable insulated box. Thawing is natural and may occur.

To learn more about how we ship our products and how to properly receive them, please visit Shipping Info for further detail.

All sales are final.