Ghee-Why?and How to Make It
Why Ghee?
Ghruta,
as ghee is known in sanskrit, is an important substance to those
following Ayurveda. One text (Qhrutam Ayuh) equates ghee with life
itself. Ghruta is the best Sneha for the body (sneha means both oil
& love). The root of this idea may lie in the process of making
ghee. Ghee is the final product made from milk (itself highly regarded)
after several ‘sanskaras’ or processes and so holds the most refined
essence of the milk.
Imagine living in 200BC in India; to get your daily dose of ghee you must first milk the cow, then boil the milk and cool it, then add the culture to make yogurt, let if clabber for a day or 2 then skim off the fat and churn til you have butter or navaneeta, then you cook the butter gently until all the water is gone, the protein can be filtered out. When only the high quality oil remains you have ghee. Not a small feat and not a substance to take for granted.
Ghee is very stable (the sort of thing that brings stability to the body); a long shelf life, no need to be refrigerated, and an extremely high smoke point (heat doesn’t denature it).
- Heat 7-8 sticks of butter in a clean heavy bottomed pan. When all the butter is melted, keep the heat on low. Let it boil.
- Just blow lightly some air, if the liquid has become transparent and you can see the bottom of the pan clearly, the ghee is done. Switch off the heat. (Do not keep the heat on at this stage, otherwise the ghee gets burnt). Some people like to add a little fenugreek(methi)
- Now add 1/8 th tea spn of salt. It helps the floating particles to settle at the bottom.
- When the ghee has cooled a bit, pour in glass jars taking care not to pour any of the solid particles.
- If everything has gone well, it solidifies when completely cooled.
- There is a considerable amount of ghee which remains in the vessel after you pour it in jars. With a spoon, remove all the solid particles. Now use the vessel to make daali thoy or any other daal and the final daal comes out very tasty and fragrant.
At my native some people add a small turmeric leaf to the milk which is used for making ghee. Personally I don’t like any extra flavor to it, so I don’t like to add anything.
Ghruta,
as ghee is known in sanskrit, is an important substance to those
following Ayurveda. One text (Qhrutam Ayuh) equates ghee with life
itself. Ghruta is the best Sneha for the body (sneha means both oil
& love). The root of this idea may lie in the process of making
ghee. Ghee is the final product made from milk (itself highly regarded)
after several ‘sanskaras’ or processes and so holds the most refined
essence of the milk.Imagine living in 200BC in India; to get your daily dose of ghee you must first milk the cow, then boil the milk and cool it, then add the culture to make yogurt, let if clabber for a day or 2 then skim off the fat and churn til you have butter or navaneeta, then you cook the butter gently until all the water is gone, the protein can be filtered out. When only the high quality oil remains you have ghee. Not a small feat and not a substance to take for granted.
Ghee is very stable (the sort of thing that brings stability to the body); a long shelf life, no need to be refrigerated, and an extremely high smoke point (heat doesn’t denature it).
- Heat 7-8 sticks of butter in a clean heavy bottomed pan. When all the butter is melted, keep the heat on low. Let it boil.
- When the ghee has cooled a bit, pour in glass jars taking care not to pour any of the solid particles.
- There is a considerable amount of ghee which remains in the vessel after you pour it in jars. With a spoon, remove all the solid particles. Now use the vessel to make daali thoy or any other daal and the final daal comes out very tasty and fragrant.
At my native some people add a small turmeric leaf to the milk which is used for making ghee. Personally I don’t like any extra flavor to it, so I don’t like to add anything.
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