Curejoy Expert Claude Butler Explains:
Ghee can be used in place of butter and is an ideal cooking oil, as it does not burn unless heated excessively. It makes a wonderful body oil for massage and can serve as a base for herbal ointments (for burns, skin rashes, etc.) and can even be used for lamps, with wicks made from cotton balls.
Generally, people use butter to make ghee. But traditionally, ghee is made in a different way. Here’s the traditional ghee recipe.
Traditional Ghee Recipe
1. Collecting the cream
-Collect cream from full-fat milk in a glass container. To get a sizeable amount of cream for ghee, it must be collected over 8-10 days. To collect cream, boil the milk, let it cool and collect the top layer of cream and transfer to a glass container. Do not use plastic or any other type of container.
-Store the cream in the refrigerator. In case you have time, boil milk, cool it and store it in the fridge overnight. The top-creamy layer in the morning will be much better, so you can do this every day and collect the cream.
-The milk cream that is collected over time will start separating from the water and go to the bottom.
2. Mixing the cream
-After collecting the cream, transfer the collected milk cream in a food processor and run it at a low speed for 1-3 minutes.
-You will notice that the butter will have separated from the milky water or whey. The milky water is known as buttermilk which can be garnished with coriander and spices for a cool, summer drink.
3. Making the ghee
-Transfer the butter in a deep bottom pan with low-medium heat
-You will start seeing clear bubbles, lower your cooktop to your lowest heat setting.
-Keep heating it until you see a clear film on top which is the ghee. Once this appears, turn off your cooktop.
4. Filtration process
-Pass the ghee through a fine sieve or muslin cloth to collect the pure ghee in a clean glass container.
-Ghee does not need to be refrigerated and will store will for 6-7 months.
