February 12, 2015 In Food, Health, Nutrition, Recipe

Make your own Ghee

What is Ghee?

Ghee is a premium cooking oil celebrated for its taste, nutritional benefits, and medicinal qualities.

Ghee is the very essence of butter. It is the end result of a careful clarification process that removes all the moisture, milk solids and impurities. The absence of milk solids and water in Ghee make it completely shelf stable. Ghee has one of the highest flash points, which make this oil the best choice for high temperature cooking. It is more heat resistant than butter, which burns quickly.

Today I would like to share with you my recipe for cooking clarified butter/Ghee. My technique is not messy and it produces a flavourless Ghee, which is a fantastic cooking oil replacement.

Since Ghee is not easily found in the supermarket, or even at the fresh food market, it is good to be able to prepare it yourself. It is extremely easy to make and it lasts for ages.

I feel confident in saying that if you try using my Ghee it in your cooking, you will never look back.

Below I am outlining my method of preparing Ghee, but before that let’s learn some quick facts.

Why is Ghee so good for you?

Ghee is comprised of full spectrum short, medium and long chain fatty acids, both unsaturated and saturated. Ghee contains Omega 3 and Omega 9 essential fatty acids, along with vitamins A, D, E and K. Ghee made from the organic butter of pastured cows is one of the highest natural sources of CLA (Conjugated Linoleic Acid). 9 phenolic anti-oxidants, as well as numerous other minerals are present in Ghee. Ghee is known as a substance that gives longevity; it has been used for centuries as a digestive and elimination aid, for energy, sexual vitality, skin and eye health, as a lubricant for the joints and for alkalizing the blood.

How to make your own Ghee

(These instructions are for a small batch of Ghee – approx. 3/4 cup).

  • Start with 1 cup of organic unsalted butter from grass fed cows.
  • Just melt the butter in a saucepan on a very low heat.
  • Once melted set aside and let it stand for 20 minutes.
  • If there is any white foam on the surface remove it with a spoon.
  • Transfer the pot carefully into the fridge and let it set for 5-6 hours.
  • Remove from the fridge and run a knife around the sides of the pan (like you would do when you remove a cake from a cake ring).
  • At this point the milk solids will still be white liquid and the fat solids will be hard and yellow.
  • Tip the contents onto a cold tray and separate the yellow fat solids from the white milk solids.
  • Be sure to scrape off all of the white milk solids; with kitchen paper wipe the yellow solid fat block removing all the milk like particles.
  • Discard the liquid milk solids
  • Place the yellow fat block into a sauce pan and melt once again (in case there are still some milk solids you could not remove). Cook the fat on the lowest heat for approx.10 minutes.
  • Pour the purified butter/ghee into a glass jar for storage (where it will l;ast for up to a year).
  • Because the milk solids have been removed you don’t need to refrigerate the ghee; so you can store it in or out of the fridge.
  • Once the ghee is cold it will be opaque and have silky smooth texture, which is perfect for scooping out with a spoon.