Ghee: Making Clarified Butter

Ghee. Strange word, huh? What it denotes, however, is divine. Ghee is a Sanskrit word and can be found as far back as 5000 years ago. In English, it's simply clarified butter. 

Clarified butter is made by gently heating the butter and skimming off the milk solids, leaving a pure golden liquid. This golden liquid is great for many different reasons, such as its high smoke point (482F) and the fact that those with milk allergies can still enjoy it because the lactose and casein have totally been removed from it. 

Many cultures have used ghee but it is mostly predominantly used in Southern Asia, such as India. The Ayurvedic tradition considers it to be so life-giving that it is the main ingredient in many ayurvedic medicines. India, however, is not the only culture that has idolized the vitalizing properties of butter. 

Grassfed butter is one of the best sources of vitamins A, D, K2, and E, as well as selenium, copper, zinc, chromium, and iodine. Traditional cultures, such as the Swiss, considered butter to be so important to their well-being that it was 

...honored with a special ceremony in their churches, in which they placed a bowl of spring butter on the altar and lighted a wick in it to acknowledge its life-giving properties. (Fallon Morell, Nourishing Traditions Book of Baby & Child Care)

Ghee is one of the simplest things to make and is great for high-heat sauteeing, deep frying, and even baking. If you have a milk allergy and thought that you could never enjoy butter again, ghee might just be the key to enjoying the flavor and nutrition of this life-giving food. 

Note: Ghee stores for months without refrigeration. It's best to make large quantities at a time to save you extra work. Also, if you can't make your own raw butter, the best quality store-bought butter is unsalted Kerry Gold Irish Butter. 

Ghee 

Ingredients

unsalted butter, preferably from grass-fed cows

Equipment

9x13 baking dish

mason jars 

large mixing bowl

strainer

tightly-woven cheesecloth

Method 

1. Preheat oven to 110F. Place butter in baking dish and put in preheated oven for about 30 minutes to an hour (or however long it takes to melt). 

2. The milk solids should have sunk to the bottom of the dish. 

3. Place strainer with cheesecloth over a bowl. Pour liquid through strainer. Depending on the weave of your cheesecloth, you may need to do this a couple of times until all milk solids are strained from the golden liquid.

4. Pour ghee into a jar to store. You may store it in the refrigerator (it will become solid) or leave it in the pantry. Fat stores for months at a time so there is no need to worry about it going rancid. 

Enjoy!