What is Lamb?

   Lamb is the flesh of young sheep, also called lambs. Lamb differs from mutton, the flesh of older sheep, in both tenderness and flavor. Lamb becomes mutton when the sheep is about a year old.
  The meat-packing industry makes the test for lamb by the appearance of the "break joint" where the forefeet are removed from the slaughtered animal. In lambs less than a year old, the break joint has well-defined ridges which are moist and smooth. As the lamb grows older, the tissue in the break joint area becomes dry and hard.
   Australians eat about 38 pounds of lamb per person every year. Americans average only about 3 pounds of
lamb and mutton per person in a year. Europeans prefer mutton, but Americans like the more delicate flavor of
lamb. About 90 percent of the sheep marketed in the United States are lambs.