Sunday, January 11, 2009

Ghee- how to make at home


"Ghee" is clarified butter that is used in India and in some mid eastern countries for cooking.

It is made by simmering unsalted butter until all water has boiled off and the milk proteins have settled to the bottom. The result is a clear liquid, hence called clarified butter. The cooked and clarified butter is then decanted or starined out avoiding disturbing the milk solids on the bottom of the pan. Unlike butter, ghee can be stored for extended periods without the need to refrigerate. Just keep it in an air-tight jar.

When cooking, it can be unhealthy to heat polyunsaturated oils such as vegetable oils to high temperatures. Doing so creates peroxides and otherfree radicals. These substances lead to a variety of health problems and diseases. On the other hand, ghee has a very high smoke point and doesn't burn or smoke easily during cooking. Because ghee has the more stable saturated bonds (i.e., it lacks double bonds which are easily damaged by heat) it is not as likely to form dangerous free radicals when cooking.

Ghee's short chain fatty acids are also metabolized very readily by the body, which would seem to negate concerns of its health effects.

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Ingredient:

Unsalted butter.... as much as you want to make ghee out off.

I suggest to start with 1 lb (or less.)

Put the butter in pot and turn the heat on to med-high. Give it a stir once every couple of minutes after it is done melting.

*Butter melting:


*Butter boiling. Quite foamy...


*The foam is a bit pacified now.




*The bubbles are getting finer and thinner now.


*(almost done) The milk proteins will seperate. As soon as you see any brown particles floating when you stir it, that mean it is done.


*oops (1 minute overdone) :P
Turn the heat off and take it off the hot burner. It will still keep cooking by it's own heat.



* cooled down. See how the tasty milk solids have settled to the bottom! And the clear ghee sits seperately on top.


After it is cooled cool to touch, pour the ghee caefully off in a clean glass container. Though don't let it sit and totally get cold in the pot, because it will solidify in the pot and you will hve to melt it again to pour it out.

Wait, don't throw that brown/tan colored milk protein away. After you have poured the ghee away, stir in a little bit brown sugar or honey in it and mix it properly. It's the best candy in the world... ummm.............. yum.
Use Ghee to cook just about anything you would cook with any egetable oil or butter. Best of all, it doesn't need to stay in the fridge, unless it's severly hot weather! :)

1 comment:

Michelle said...

Cooking and art are my favorite pass-times, too! I make my own ghee all the time. It tastes so much better than the store bought stuff and costs much less.