Ghee (clarified butter) is a staple of Indian cuisine and is also encountered in many other world diets. Many claim that ghee can have health benefits but others avoid it as it contains cholesterol and is a saturated fat. To make ghee, butter is slowly brought to a simmer and milk solids and water are removed.
Homesteading weblog Red Hog Blog offers step-by-step instructions and photos for making your own ghee. After the butter is brought to a simmer, solids will rise to the top. You’ll scoop these off as they appear with a large spoon. After several minutes of this you will be left with a pot of clear ghee with solids at the bottom of the pot.
The author then drains the ghee into a stock pot that contains a colander with several layers of cheesecloth. These will ensure that all solids are trapped but the clear ghee makes it through the filters into the pot. Pour the filtered ghee into jars and it should keep for around six months without refrigeration.
You can use ghee in any application where regular butter would be used, but as it has a higher burn temperature you can also use it for deep frying and other applications where regular butter won’t do.
Ghee is great for the lactose intolerant as all milk proteins are removed from the ghee during filtration. Other possible health benefits of ghee include aiding digestion, and it is often used in beauty creams to soften skin. As current nutritional information can be conflicting I urge you to use or abstain from using ghee based on your diet’s opinion of animal fats. If you do decide to partake, making a batch of ghee is a great weekend project when butter is on sale.
How to Be a Ghee Whiz! (Get it?) [Red Hog Blog]
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