Homemade Indian ghee if you dare
Ghee, or Indian clarified and caramelized butter, is hard to relay in a recipe. There are many visual and aromatic cues to watch out for, and all are subject to interpretation. Learning how to make ghee in my family, like most other things, has always been show, not tell. When my parents were newlyweds, they went to India. My mother spent much of the time observing in the kitchen with my relatives. When I learned, I brought my camera along. Now, four years later, I’m attempting a written version for public consumption. So we’re breaking new ground here. Why? Because ghee kicks butter’s ass.
I’m documenting the process for you (at length, uh), in the hopes that some will be adventurous and go ahead and try it. I made this ghee three times, a true Goldilocks process, before getting it absolutely perfect. But all three are delicious. Ghee doesn’t disappoint.
It’s wicked easy once you understand how butter cooks. You’re basically clarifying butter, then letting it cook longer until the milk solids caramelize, giving it the unique nutty flavor and sweet aroma only found in ghee.
Clarifying butter, like many other processes in cooking, was borne out of a need to preserve. The process separates the milk solids from the butter fats, resulting in a much longer shelf life. In India, refrigeration is generally not an option, and by taking their butter one step further, it has a shelf life at room temperature for up to 1 year. Indians, my relatives among them, claim if it’s made by expert hands it will last 100 years.
Ghee vs. Butter
According to Ayurveda, ghee is very rejuvenating, and has many health-giving properties. Ghee is the most easily digestible of the cooking fats and oils. Contrary to popular Western belief, ghee is not simply something yummy to spread on toast or cook with potatoes. It is a staple in India, and can be used as a substitute for butter or oil in cooking when the dish is going to be served warm or hot. Ghee, like most oils, can be cooked at higher temperatures than butter without burning, but due to its lower melting point, it’s not the best fat to bake a cake with.
Here are a couple example of recipes where I would use ghee in place of butter or oil: Stewed Apples, Kichidi, on toast, Stews, Omelettes, Dals, Vegetables, or desserts like bread pudding.
For more, check out these recipes. Also, check out our post on how to make butter to make a truly homemade ghee out of a delicious cream.
How to make ghee
2 pounds unsalted butter, easier if in blocks (or check out our post on how to make butter!)
Tools:
Heavy-bottomed sauce pan
Unbleached fine cheese cloth
Metal funnel
Wooden spoon
Glass container with clasping lid that can withstand heat
Tips:
Purchasing unsalted butter in blocks instead of sticks makes the unwrapping process much easier. Ghee, like butter, tastes differently depending on the source. So don’t go out and buy cheap butter just because you’re making it in bulk. Remember, the ghee will last for a year. Even if you cook it a little too long or not enough, as long as you didn’t burn it, keep it. If it’s overcooked, taste it once it sets. On the flip side, if the milk solids didn’t caramelize, you made clarified butter. So congrats, just store it in the fridge and use it within 1-2 months.
When you stir the butter, you need to glide your spoon across the bottom of the pan, and scrape up any of the milk solids that have settled so they don’t stick and burn. This is important from the point when the butter starts boiling on. Making ghee is a patient, observant, and peaceful process, so let it be just that.
To measure doneness, check the photo to the left. The first row in the color chart is the liquid once it’s been strained into the container, and the second row is right before it’s removed from the heat. You can see the color is retained. You’re looking for the butter to go from yellow (on the left), to a slight orange (middle column). If it gets to the darker brown (right column), you’ve gone a little too far.
Note on time:
If you’re using less butter, this process will go faster. It also depends on the diameter of your pan. A smaller pan will cook the butter more slowly, but require more attention. But if the pan is too big and the butter too thinly dispersed, the ghee can easily stick and burn. For two pounds, a 10″ sauce pan is just perfect. So you can adjust from there.
Step 1 – Unwrap the butter and setup shop
Unwrap the butter and cut into chunks (4 or 5 per stick, etc). Heat the butter on medium-low to low in the sauce pan. Set a timer for 45 minutes.
Fold your cheese cloth so there are four layers, and lay it in the strainer. Don’t wait until the last minute to do this, as there won’t be time! Place the bottle in the sink, and set the strainer propped in its mouth.
Step 2 – Melt the butter
Within the first 8-10 minutes, the butter will melt. Give it a stir with your spoon to see where it’s at, and then let it sit.
Step 3 – Butter begins to froth and then boil
Within the next 5 minutes, the butter will begin to froth. Give it a stir, and continue stirring every minute from now on. Glide your spoon across the bottom at this point, and kick up the milk solids.
Around 15-18 minutes, the butter will start to boil, and continue for the next 7-10 minutes, first hard, then more gently. Stir consistently. After about 30 minutes, the boil will slow. The butter will start to smell like clarified butter, and you’ll want to dunk a lobster in it.
Step 4 – Milk solids separate
At this point (30-35 minutes), the sea of foam will part, and the milk solids will begin to clump together. Watch the edges of the pan at this point. You will notice their change in color as the milk solids cook and finally caramelize. The aroma will be stronger still, but still like butter.
Step 5 – Milk solids begin to caramelize
The last 8-10 minutes, you need to watch the edges of the pan carefully, and observe the change in color. Continue to stir and scrape. The surface should be mostly clear. If you’re unsure of where things are at, scoop up some solids from the bottom and check its color. If it’s still white or light tan, you’ve got 5 more minutes to go. You are waiting for the butter to turn into a beautiful orange color, the milk solids to caramelize into a light-to-medium brown, and most noticeably, fizzy bubbles to form on the surface of the butter. The aroma will change slightly, smelling more sweet and caramel-y. Be ready with your strainer.
Step 6 – Those fizzy bubbles, strain!
Once bubbles begin to form on the surface, right around 45 minutes, pull up some solids from the bottom and check the edges. They should be medium brown. Take the butter off the heat immediately and strain, as it will continue to cook until you get it out of the pan. When straining, you can dump all of the brown solids on top of your cheese cloth, but make sure none gets into the ghee. You will have a tiny film on the bottom, but ah, c’est la vie. It’ll still keep for a year.
Step 7 – Patience, it needs to set
Keep the lid open until it completely cools (left, cooled; right, just strained and still hot). Setting can take up to 12 hours. Eat it, love it, become converted like me. Ghee rules.
Now that you’ve made ghee, find out where to go from here.
Note on the finished product:
Once it is set, you should have a smooth, light golden color (properly cooked it’s more gold than yellow from the caramelization) solid that is uniform throughout. It should stay solid at room temp (65-75F).
………Troubleshooting – What went wrong?………
My ghee smells burnt and is dark amber in color. This means you cooked the ghee a little too long and in the process burned the milk solids, which gives the ghee a burnt taste. This is the only case, really, where you’d want to toss your ghee and start again. If you do, make sure to cook the ghee on a low temperature and really watch for a color change. Turn on all the lights and look into the pot!
I can only find salted butter. You can still make delicious ghee with salted butter. And no, it won’t be salty.
The butter will froth a bit more during the steps in the instructions where I would indicate it should bubble. Make your ghee in a slightly larger pot to prevent the froth from overflowing, and give it a stir when it does froth up to bring it down in volume. If you’re worried about overflow, you can also just take it off the heat for a moment and stir and things will calm down. The resulting ghee will taste fabulous but have a slightly gritty texture. Also, those milk solids, don’t eat ‘em. That’s where all the salt will go! Pour those puppies down the drain.
I can only find butter with emulsifiers and other ingredients in it. I would not suggest making ghee from anything other than real, pure butter. I would not suggest making it from spreadable butters, those with emulsifiers or added vitamins, minerals, you name it. Anything that gives it texture will turn gummy and gross in the pan; any added vitamins, etc, will give it an off flavor and probably be destroyed in the process anyways. You just want real, old-fashioned butter. If you can’t find the stuff, here’s a real simple way to make it from cream.
My ghee has separated, or has white spots or is not uniform in color. This is usually a cooling problem. You want to let your ghee sit at room temperature with the lid cocked (to prevent particles falling in) enough to allow the cooling to happen naturally. You don’t want to stick hot ghee in the fridge, put it in front of an open window, or seal it prematurely. All these things aren’t bad, necessarily, but they will affect the color and sometimes cause the liquid to separate from the solid.
But hell, my aunt, who taught me how to make ghee, sometimes makes hers where the liquid and solid are completely separate. And a good friend of ours sells the most delicious ghee and only recently has he been able to streamline the cooling process and prevent little white spots from forming. So don’t fuss too much. It’s all ghee and it’s all good.
I’m really excited that you posted this…I don’t know how soon I’ll get to it, but I definitely would love to try making my own ghee! Thanks for sharing!
October 10th, 2008 at 7:12 pmi LOVE your website :)
October 10th, 2008 at 8:32 pmgosh you make this look so easy. I could taste the ghee as I was reading this meticulously crafted recipe. You are the best.
October 10th, 2008 at 10:43 pmCan you do anything with the milk fat solids you’ve skimmed off?
October 11th, 2008 at 10:52 pmSoopling, that is an excellent question. I have always been taught to mix it with sugar and eat it. Granted, you can only stomach a couple of bites, but they’re definitely worth it. As for more legitimate recipes, I will need to ask my grandmother and get back to you.
October 12th, 2008 at 3:47 pmHi
How can i use this wonderful ghee in daily cooking ? Is it less fat than intire butter ? Can it substitute oil – olive oil fx ?
October 14th, 2008 at 3:09 pmGreetings from Denmark.
Hi Karen, I’ve been thinking about publishing a bunch of recipes including ghee since I posted how to make it. Yes, ghee is less fatty, due to the fact that you strain off the milk fats. Ghee can be used in place of butter or oil when sauteing, deep frying, etc, so long as the dish is going to be eaten hot. Think of it as a semi-solid, and you’ll get my point. So as a semi-solid, it’s not good for cold dishes or baking. It also has more flavor than butter, so you shouldn’t use in a dish that you wouldn’t want that sweet nuttiness. I use it when making eggs, sauteing veggies, on toast, when making pan desserts.
Here’s a couple examples:
http://asmartmouth.com/2008/10/13/pumpkin-bread-pudding/
http://asmartmouth.com/2008/10/08/poor-mans-rich-food-kichidi-with-peas-and-cauliflower/
http://asmartmouth.com/2008/10/10/dill-basil-and-goat-cheese-omelette/
http://asmartmouth.com/2008/09/22/stewed-apples/
More to come. Hope this helps!
October 14th, 2008 at 3:23 pmThanks for posting this. I always wanted to make this, and the pictures are great.
October 17th, 2008 at 10:29 amI do have 2 questions though. In the last picture what is the difference between the 2 jars? Is one cold and one room temperature?
And does the ghee need to be kept in the fridge?
Thanks again for your blog.
Patty:
Yes, in the last photo the left one is cooled, and the right has just been taken off the heat and poured into the jar.
Ghee can be kept at room temperature outside of the fridge, and unlike butter, it’s totally fine if it becomes more liquid and then more solid repeatedly (as the kitchen temp changes). Clarified butter, however, should be kept in the fridge.
Anjuli
October 17th, 2008 at 6:38 pmThanks for the wonderful picures and guide. This is going to be really useful.
October 18th, 2008 at 11:22 amthanks for the reply! mixing with sugar…wow.
October 21st, 2008 at 10:34 pm[...] ghee at A Smart Mouth Similar [...]
October 22nd, 2008 at 12:59 amwell am bitten and to tell you the truth am into making ghee commercially and this is exactly what i needed thanx alot to all
November 5th, 2008 at 6:16 amHow interesting, thanks for sharing how to make ghee. I’m just starting to get into Indian cooking and I’m sure this’ll come in handy!
November 10th, 2008 at 2:01 amThe age old way to test whether the ghee is done is to put in a couple of drops of water into the pan. This triggers off a distinct bubble crackling sound. Keep it on for about half a minute on low heat to boil off the water then strain, store and use!
November 18th, 2008 at 4:43 amThanks for the detailed and illustrated steps. They were extremely useful when I made ghee yesterday. Turned out excellent! I just wanted to mention that I used 1 lb. of butter instead of 2 lb. and my cooking time was reduced in almost exactly half.
November 24th, 2008 at 8:57 amPhilbert: Thanks! Who do you make ghee for?
Gaga: Making homemade ghee definitely helps with both Indian cooking, but also other recipes as well.
Varsha: Interesting, I haven’t heard this one. Very helpful.
Ranjita: I actually made a smaller amount of ghee over the holidays with the same outcome as you. Cheers. Glad it worked out!
December 2nd, 2008 at 12:06 amthank you for the wonderful picture tutorial!
January 16th, 2009 at 3:10 ami have always wanted to ask a friend who is from india how to make this bbu twith 4 kids i never had the time!.. thanks so much i will get right on it(now that they are all in school.. freeedooommm!)
i love your site, it is very well done
Thanks so much for the step by step. This is the first I’ve made it and it worked like a charm!!
February 10th, 2009 at 6:19 pmHi there!
February 18th, 2009 at 7:57 pmI looked at a bunch of sites before deciding on yours to walk me through my first attempt at making ghee. Medium high or medium low heat,skim or leave the foam, stir or not to stir. Those were the questions and each site had different answers. Yours seemed to to be best. I followed to the letter, (and color) and guess what! MY FIRST BATCH LOOKS GREAT!!!! Thank you for your great directions!!!! Hope your trip to Japan is great! Bob
Thanks for the info on making Ghee at home.
February 21st, 2009 at 12:06 pmI did yesterday and this morning I see the color of the Ghee is golden but it has an inch of white color on top.
What is this?
Thanks.
BarbWE
We agree…ghee DOES rule! We have tried several batches and it took your site to get it done right! Thank you! We also made it with non-organic unsalted butter and it turned out pretty good, but was grainier & not as solid…still tasty though. Once we got the process down, we used organic unsalted butter and it made all the difference. It is more solid and tastes even more delicious (if that is possible). We are making it for all of our friends and family now as little gifts…needless to say, they are hooked now too. Thank you again for the site!
February 22nd, 2009 at 10:47 pmWe hope your trip to Japan was ghee-reat! :)
Cindy: Thanks for the feedback! It’s always good to hear when higher quality foods make a VISIBLE difference in the dish. Glad you’re spreading the wealth. I love making ghee and putting ‘em in jam jars and handing ‘em out to virgins for a try.
July 13th, 2009 at 1:22 pmThanks for the complete recipe. I had made ghee over 30 years ago as a then vegetarian. Trying the recipe recently from “memory” I forgot several steps in the process and was skimming of the foam, throwing it away, and using the brown remainder as the “ghee!” it was still delish!!! But never seemed like enough, as I was throwing quite a bit away lol. Well thanks to your fabulous pictorial tutorial, I’m on the right road now, and will let you know the awesome outcome. Thanks again so much sharing this wonderful healthy food with us.
July 22nd, 2009 at 6:38 pmThanks for the excellent description. I made ghee the other night from books and a search of the web and thought I got the job done. The color of the final product in the pan was a clear caramel color which I thought was great but realized from the images on your site that I had gone way too far.
I’ll try it again with 3/4 of a pound of butter (3 sticks) … this made 1 cup of ghee.
Thanks again!
August 1st, 2009 at 1:50 amI was searching the web for tips I used to make ghee a few years ago and I saw your name and had to read your comments.
I must say, these are the most engaging homemade ghee instructions ever. Love it and will use it.
And yes, ghee does in fact, kicks butter’s ass.
August 14th, 2009 at 2:29 pmGhee’s really easy to make, I’m so glad you’ve tried it! Next time you make it, try nibbling the solids on a chapati with a bit of jaggery, or mixed into plain rice. I have pictures of making ghee on my blog, if you are interested: http://mangosoup.blogspot.com/2009/08/making-ghee-and-note-on-healthy-cooking.html
August 16th, 2009 at 11:30 amWell, I finally made ghee which is recommended for my diet with Eat Right For Your Type. The illustrations were perfect and the directions were easy to follow.
August 19th, 2009 at 8:22 pmThank you
Marimac
Thank you so much for this recipe! I’ve been making it for several months now and will not be without my ghee! The pictures and very detailed description helped a lot, especially my first time, but I still keep coming back to it each time. I have learned to cook it at a lower temp though; the first time, it cooked very quickly and I overcooked it a little. Cooking at a lower temp (I use 2 on my gas stove) gives you a little more leeway if you haven’t been paying close attention.
September 28th, 2009 at 11:21 amLove your instructions to make the ghee. I have been trying to make the clarified butter and always have a hard time trying to get the milk solids out of it however I wasn’t using the cheese cloth. I use it for just about everything except when I use coconut oil.
October 19th, 2009 at 12:21 pmI just tried your ghee recipe – it turned out perfect on the first try. Thank you so much for your help!
December 24th, 2009 at 11:46 pmI wish I had found these instructions sooner. I found and used another set of instructions and I ended up making clarified butter, not ghee. The other instructions were good, but I think had I used these, I would have ended up with ghee.
December 28th, 2009 at 8:56 amI kept waiting for the liquid to start turning gold/darker and it never did. I didn’t want to turn the heat up too much; I was afraid that I’d burn the butter. Also, I never stirred the mixture. The butter melted, I got the “first foam” but that never disappeared. Should I have stirred this? Any assistance would be appreciated. I DID use organic cultured butter, as I read that is it better to used cultured butter.
Oh well, the batch was still less expensive than buying it in the store.
Thank you.
Barbara: You have to stir ghee, run the spoon along the bottom, and watch for color changes. If you don’t stir, the foaming doesn’t happen properly and you can’t really tell where in the cooking process you are. As you become more of an expert, you will learn to cook ghee with minimal tending to, but in the beginning it really helps. If you got clarified butter, that’s great. Did you strain it? You could actually put it back on the stove and continue cooking it until it’s ghee. The big difference between ghee and clarified butter is that you continue to cook the milk solids until they caramelize and are completely separate from the rest of the butter. Hope this helps!
January 8th, 2010 at 2:21 pmI love to experiment with butter and didn’t know it was called Ghee. I learned that if I clarified butter the flavor was automaticly different and gooood! Yeah! go get those lobster tails and king crab claws right now. I will definitly try this recipe. And, you say it keeps for a year__that’s even better. Thankyou. Want to make stuffed crabs use this in the mix instead of butter. Make croutons being careful not to overdo it. Just think of all the butter recipes you now use and instead use ghee. Good luck waiting, it’s worth it.
January 25th, 2010 at 11:26 pmI also wanted to add that my wife is both lactose intolerant and cannot eat soy products which has made it impossible to find a butter substitute. Yes even products such as Olivio have soy in them. After some advice from a friend, we tried to cook some items in ghee tonight for dinner… Voila! No lactaid nec and no difference in taste! The only incorrect bit her friend had told her is that it was the same as clarified butter (which after reading this- clearly it is not).
I cant wait to get into the kitchen and give this a shot! Any tips for someone whom has NEVER made ghee in their kitchen? Thanks for the great blog!
January 26th, 2010 at 11:27 pmTunisia: I’m happy to hear you like experimenting with butter. One word of advice – ghee is super flavorful, and doesn’t work in all places where clarified butter or butter are called for. I have not experimented with ghee and seafood, but am interested in seeing what you find out! I would think in some places the ghee will overpower the subtle taste of sea creatures. I have definitely found though, that it greatly enhances foods that would otherwise be cooked in oil, especially savory vegetable dishes. I also love to cook eggs in ghee instead of butter.
January 27th, 2010 at 7:06 pmThis sounds wonderful and I can’t wait to try it. I do wish you had a print feature on your site so we can print the recipes and photos without the comments and other links. Thanks.
February 15th, 2010 at 7:39 am[...] can use salted or unsalted butter or Ghee <—- what I used. I love having a jar of Ghee on my counter top. It is joyful to have [...]
February 22nd, 2010 at 7:17 pmExcellent post on ghee!! Love the stuff….for the taste and the ayurvedic qualities. I just linked back to your great blog for folks to learn the right way to make this. It is a mystery to most in the US, but something they should learn to do :)
February 22nd, 2010 at 9:42 pmI recently found out I have a great deal of food allergies one of which is dairy products. I use a lot of real butter and was told to substitute it with ghee but could not find it in local stores. Was very excited to see recipe for ghee, love to cook, am going to try right away!!!
February 27th, 2010 at 12:07 amexactly….how much butter is lost, should i be using about 2 sticks of butter to make ghee…….thanks, so much….dg
February 27th, 2010 at 6:29 pmThank you, Anjuli! I’ve made clarified butter many times, and assumed (incorrectly) that it was the same as ghee. I made your recipe this afternoon, using 1# of butter. I must have had good butter, since I didn’t get a lot of milkfats. At any rate, your pictures and instructions made it very very easy. Now, I’m off to make Palak Paneer! Thank you so much for your guidance!!
February 27th, 2010 at 7:03 pmMarla: Thanks! Yea, since I started making ghee I haven’t looked back. Butter, ghee, oils, and lard all have their own place in cooking, but I am very partial to ghee both for how it nourishes my body and how it enhances food.
March 2nd, 2010 at 11:44 pmTracee: Awesome. I had problems with dairy when I was younger as well, and had no problem cooking with ghee. I hope you enjoy using it!
March 2nd, 2010 at 11:45 pmDg: Usually you’re really only straining off fats in the cheese cloth and then cooking down a bit of water. In total you’re losing about 1/2 cup. Of course how you use ghee is different, so you’d need to adjust recipes accordingly. Ghee melts more like an oil than butter. Hope that helps!
March 2nd, 2010 at 11:50 pmDebby: Glad it worked out! The yield for milk fats (not including what gets stuck in the bottom of the pan is usually only like 1/4 cup. So you shouldn’t lose that much. Hope your palak paneer turned out well. Yum!
March 2nd, 2010 at 11:51 pmThanks for sharing your tips! I especially appreciate the photos, showing the various stages of the recipe. And setting the timer for 45 minutes is a genius idea, since it gave me a much better sense of where I was in the process.
I made ghee this morning, using your approach. The only difference is how I strained the ghee after it finished cooking. I used a porcelain single-cone filter cone (these are also widely available in plastic, but I personally don’t feel comfortable exposing plastic to heat), lined with an unbleached #2 paper filter, to strain the ghee right into the glass container. Afterwards, the cone went into the dishwasher and the paper filter went into the trash. No fuss, no muss :-)
March 4th, 2010 at 3:08 pmThank you! Thank you! Thank you! I made ghee tonight using your method and it came out perfectly. The smell is simply delicious and taste is so smooth and light. My family came to the kitchen wondering what smelled so good! I really appreciate all the care you took in providing step by step instructions with photographs. They’re really better than all the ghee-making videos that I’ve seen on youtube put together. Thank you so much. I’m now a ghee fan for life!
March 6th, 2010 at 9:49 pmThank you, great easy to follow directions. I made it first time using your recipe and it came out perfect.
March 19th, 2010 at 9:31 amIt seemed to be cooking a little faster than you mention in the directions, but I do have a gas stove top.
Thank you again!
Elena: I’m glad it worked out. The key is paying attention the signs. The time measurement is just there for guidance and peace of mind :)
March 30th, 2010 at 8:38 amEsther: It’s so exciting to see gee fandom increasing. When I first made this recipe there were not many instructions about ghee online. But in this last couple of years, ghee has become increasingly popular. How could it not attract such attention with its heady smell, handsome color, and knack for being a welcome substitute for most other fats. Enjoy!
March 30th, 2010 at 8:42 amClaudia: Good show. I’ve been moving a lot recently, and do find myself in certain circumstances without the right size strainers and things. It’s a small disaster when this ends in a tablespoon or ghee being wasted down the side of the bottle and onto the countertop. I agree with you on not exposing plastic to hot food. Glad the recipe worked out!
March 30th, 2010 at 8:45 am[...] cup fresh (or frozen) grated coconut 1/3 teaspoon turmeric 1 teaspoon olive oil 1 1/2 tablespoon ghee or butter 16 oz freshly cut dandelion, washed repeatedly in cold water until clean and with flowers [...]
April 22nd, 2010 at 1:08 pm[...] (all were Organic) 4 cups whole wheat flour 2 1/4 cups warm water 1 tablespoon ghee 3 tablespoons high gluten flour 2 teaspoons instant yeast Up to 2 cups all purpose flour 2 [...]
June 8th, 2010 at 12:00 pm[...] teaspoons spice blend 1 tablespoon ghee 1 teaspoon [...]
June 9th, 2010 at 7:51 pmThis is great. I kept the caramelized milk solids. mixed them with about 1/2 cup of sugar added a pinch of mace, a tiny half pinch of cardamom and a half pinch of salt and left it on low heat, stirring occasionally to mix it all well, for aoubt 6-8 minutes. Let it cool and then spinkled it over some Kulfi I made. Mmmmmm Mmmmmm Good.
July 8th, 2010 at 6:58 pmDanneauxs
[...] 1 1/3 teaspoon Bakewell Cream* 1 2/3 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon salt 2 large eggs 1/2 cup ghee 2 ears of fresh corn 1 tablespoon ghee for the [...]
August 30th, 2010 at 1:32 amAnjuli,
I learned to make ghee forever ago when my brother traveled Sankirtan with the HK devotees, in Cleveland. But recently a friend of mine asked me how I made it, and I didn’t know, exactly. I did it mostly by sight and smell. So, I googled it and came upon your directions. I made it once following these directions just to make sure the timing would work, and it did….beautifully. Thank you so much. But I gotta ask…when was the last time you ever had a quart of ghee last a year?
October 2nd, 2010 at 6:14 pm[...] 1 1/2 cups pumpkins seeds, pre-soaked in salt solution and dried (see above 1 tablespoon ghee or butter 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger 1/8 teaspoon red chili powder 1/2 [...]
November 1st, 2010 at 3:03 pmI heard of the wonderful benefits of ghee at practical philosophy school and when home i looked up for the recipe.Your method and instructions where very helpful but the colour turned brown! The taste is still nutty though I feel something went wrong. Do you think I should have left it for half the time and should I throw it away? I only used 250gr of butter. Thanks for your help and useful recipes!
November 8th, 2010 at 4:37 pmDear Expert Friend,
December 8th, 2010 at 12:35 pmI want to eat only organic bhasmati rice with organic ghee. What do you suggest I buy, to be able to make the organic ghee?
Your well-wisher,
Raksana dasa
Raksana: You can make organic ghee simply by using organic butter. As for basmati, you can get it at any local health food store.
December 8th, 2010 at 4:04 pmThis is very interesting! Thanks for sharing.
January 30th, 2011 at 11:27 am[...] Homemade Indian ghee if you dare | A Smart Mouth. LikeBe the first to like this post. [...]
February 16th, 2011 at 9:56 amI told my husband about this and he doesn’t think it’s cost effective. Thoughts?
March 26th, 2011 at 11:33 pmMelissa: How so? Because of the loss of water and milk solids? You are effectively making a hyper-concentrated butter which has added nutritional benefits, none of the negative effects of milk products and can keep much longer. So unless you’re talking about the hour spent making it, or you’re not buying butter already, I don’t see how cost factors in. Let me know.
March 27th, 2011 at 12:31 am[...] cup whey 5 teaspoons SAF Gold Instant Yeast (If using active dry yeast use 2 packets) 4 tablespoons ghee 2 large eggs 1 tablespoon cinnamon 1 tablespoon salt 1 cup pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped 3 [...]
March 27th, 2011 at 12:45 am[...] this ghee. And what’s equally amazing as GHEE itself? This step by step illustrated how-to: Homemade Indian Ghee. I only used 3 sticks of butter to make mine and 5 minutes in, I started panicking ’cause my [...]
May 2nd, 2011 at 3:35 pmThanks so much for the clear instructions and photos. Thanks to you, I made my own ghee for the first time today. It came out looking perfect (exactly like your pics). I can’t wait till it sets up and I can try it out. Thanks again!
June 21st, 2011 at 4:35 pmCan salted butter be used?
July 19th, 2011 at 8:21 pmTonya: Yes, you can use salted butter. It’s a slightly different process – there’s more foam – but when the ghee is done the salt will all go down the drain with the milk solids. Let me know how it goes!
July 20th, 2011 at 3:22 pmThe first batch was too done. The second one just now was perfect (once I realized what I was looking for and skimmed the foam off early in the process to see what was going on in the pan). Can’t wait to try the unburnt version =)
July 21st, 2011 at 9:54 amOh…and where you have to leave it open till it sets…I simply laid a coffee filter over the top and secured it with the jar ring. Can still cool but nothing floating in the air can get in. (we have 2 cats…lol)
July 21st, 2011 at 10:14 amplease give me whole detail of how to determinate fat content in ghee ?
July 26th, 2011 at 1:07 amThis worked great! Just wondering what the stuff is on the last picture on the left. I made this today, and didn’t have anything like that leftover.
August 15th, 2011 at 12:30 pmFat content, hrm… Well, butter (in the US) is required to be 80% fat. When you make ghee, you’re evaporating most of the remaining liquid and separating the milk solids. So that would make it almost entirely fat, above, maybe 95%. So in a tablespoon, where there are 11/14 grams of fat in butter, maybe it would be more like olive oil, with 13.5/14. Although, remember, with olive oil it’s mostly monounsaturated, whereas with ghee it’s going to be more saturated (40-50%). Hope that helps!
Erin: The bottle on the left is the ghee once it has solidified. What it looks like directly off the stove is the more amber color you see on the right (what you would have seen).
August 16th, 2011 at 12:03 pmThanks so much for these incredible instructions and photos! I made the ghee and it seemed to turn out perfectly – medium brown milk solids and beautiful golden ghee. But…after I let it set for about 8 hours uncovered, I saw that it got cloudy white-yellow. Could it be that I didn’t get all the milk solids out? Do you think I should heat again to try to extract those solids as well?
Any help is greatly appreciated! Thank you again!
August 20th, 2011 at 1:04 amLeah: The color and texture can change based on a few things. Neither, though is a big deal, and in both cases you have made excellent ghee.
Change in color (white spots in yellow) can be due to inconsistent or fast cooling. Did you wait until the jar was completely cool before putting on the lid? If the ghee cooled down too quickly, the color can be spotty, but that doesn’t mean there are any milk solids inside!
The other is if you’ve used salted butter. This can result in a sort of gritty textured ghee (almost like little granules), but again, still awesome ghee. And the salt will be taken out with the milk solids, so it’s no biggie.
August 21st, 2011 at 3:36 pmGreat tutorial, Anjuli. I’m encouraged to try making my first batch this week.
August 21st, 2011 at 4:57 pmDo you have a recipe/ link on making Ghee from goat’s or sheep’s milk?
Thanks so much.
Happy cooking
Misha Dee: I have to admit, I am not schooled in the process of making ghee from goat or sheep’s milk. Their fat properties are different, and I haven’t made nor have I come across delicious butter from either milk source. But of course it can be done! The process would be generally the same, but the time would vary, the separation of the milk solids would be different, and the overall stickiness and resulting quality of the ghee would be different as well. Sheep milk has more fat than cow and goat’s milk the same, but both are naturally homogenized from the animal. This means locating the fat and making the butter is quite a challenge. So if you have the butter, I would by all means give it a try and let me know how it turns out!
August 22nd, 2011 at 10:23 amI bought a jar of ready made ghee from the Indian market.
September 9th, 2011 at 2:37 pmI hate to waste the residue half left. What will I do with it? Can I uase it for cooking?
Carmelita: I’m not sure what you mean by residue? Yes, you can use ghee in place of oil to make all sorts of vegetables; you can freeze it and use it in place of crisco in baking. Here’s a link to the recipes I have using ghee – http://blog.asmartmouth.com/tag/ghee/
Hope this answers your question!
September 10th, 2011 at 2:05 pm[...] become so high that they are no longer able to keep-up with the supply.[2] Continue reading… Ghee is… Ghee is a clarified butter that is golden and gives a nutty flavour when cooked. The …larified butter that is golden and gives a nutty flavour when cooked. The word “Ghee” is [...]
September 16th, 2011 at 5:56 pmHi Ayurveda
I tried your recipe instructions on making ghee. Mine was a dark amber but it did not smell are taste burnt. The solids on the bottom were very dark. Why do you think this happened?
September 17th, 2011 at 7:57 pmDianne: The reason your ghee was darker in color is because you cooked it longer/at a slightly higher temp for the same amount of time. Either that, or you didn’t take it off the heat immediately and it turned a bit darker? Either way, if the solids did not turn black/char and the ghee and solids have a good smell and taste to them, you’ve made some fabulous ghee. So enjoy it!
September 18th, 2011 at 10:24 amSorry for my ENglish :) I made the ghee, but there was a little bit of foam on the top after it burnt. I strained it through a towel immedietly when it was hot. All brown solids stayed on the towel and in the pot, and I think, the foam stayed on the towel also, but I am not sure. The ghee in the jar was like Your – a thiny film from mini-foam bubbles on the top. I need to eliminate all of lactose and casein – do I have to do it once more and at first, before straining, skimm the bubbles/foam off?
September 20th, 2011 at 4:06 pmI wanted to make ghee out of malai….. usually i make butter first and then by heatin it, ghee…. this time i forgot to make butter and directly started heatin malai… then realised i havnt made butter… i boiled it for like 1 hour on sim gas…..then thought to make mawa out of it, now i have stoppped the process in between… will it become maWA once it cools?if not ,wat do i do with wat i have made… please reply
September 23rd, 2011 at 5:23 pmRanju: You’ve probably figured it out already, but yes, the malai should be like mawa. Malai is halfway between the process of milk and mawa already. Did it work out for you? If it doesn’t solidify you may have to cook it a bit more. I’m not sure about the timing. Let me know!
September 24th, 2011 at 11:59 amHi, can I use a paper coffee filter instead of a cheese cloth to filter the ghee? Please reply. I want to make this delicious ghee soon :)
October 31st, 2011 at 4:55 pmHI Anjuli
I love your description and just made my second ever, perfect batch of ghee. i looked up your recipe because I couldnt call my friend and confirm about stirring. Its a lovely piece.
I must comment though, ghee is not “less fatty” as you state in the comments, that “you strain off the milk fats” its actually the milk solids ie sugar and protein residue that is removed leaving beautiful pure milk fat…. pure gold!
Cheers!
November 10th, 2011 at 5:28 amps the first batch of ghee i made (while supervised :-) was with goat butter. It turned out perfectly too. So I guess thats 3 perfect batches of golden goodness!
November 10th, 2011 at 5:31 amHello Anjuli,
thanks for this wonderful recipe! It was my first try and it worked out perfectly! The taste is great, pure and in meals.
In my country, you can buy “ghee”, but mostly it is not the true one, it’s just clarified butter… and I didn’t find any good recipe in German language.
So, thanks a lot and greetings from Germany!
J.
December 11th, 2011 at 1:59 amHi Anjuli -
I’ve used various brands of ghee before (and one I just recently found out was probably made with water buffalo milk rather than cow milk, but still tasty!), and have wanted to make some at home. I’ve been collecting ghee making websites, searching for the ones that seem to be clearest in directions. Had a bunch lined out and then did a different search on a different website and up came yours! Wow – the pictures really give me a lot of confidence.
The only questions I have really may be a desire to clarify what you mean, but in the list of supplies, you mention “metal funnel” but in directions you only discuss a “strainer”. I actually have one aluminum funnel, a few plastic ones, and a tiny stainless steel funnel (supposed to be used for perfume but I’ve never used it at all.). Then I have 3 or 4 stainless steel wire mesh strainers, sort of like window screen material but finer and stainless steel, with the handle and a shorter “lip ” on the other side to easily drape over the mouth of a container… Which of the two do I actually use?
Does it make a difference in the quality of the ghee whether I use aluminum or stainless steel strainers or funnels? So much in the news about using aluminum vs. stainless steel utensils in food prep that I’m leaning towards stainless steel, but curious what your thoughts were on that?
And on the two pounds of butter cooking for 45 minutes, what is the approximate volumne that actually gets poured into a jar? How large of a jar should I have available? Are we talking pints (16 oz) of ghee or quarts (32 oz) (or liters whatever, I realize you have a global audience but I have never been able to get the hang of metric system. I can barely function in imperial but it’s what I know! Sorry!).
Let’s see, my memory dredges up “a pint’s a pound the world around” which I’m sure is a throwback to Colonialism, so that means um (thinking), 2 pounds of butter is ummm 2 pints which is 1 quart, right? more or less. But it’ll cook down – right? all the bubbling and straining, there’s a certain amount of reduction taking place?
Today I found a ghee made in Colorado and it is in a glass jar with a screw top lid.I was wondering if that’s okay to use during the cooling process, rather than a glass jar with the lock-down clasps like you have in your photos?
Otherwise, I’m guessing you would use the lock down jars, and then once it was cooled off, transfer it into a jar with the screw top lid like I got today?
The other brand of ghee I have used, was actually in a tin can. I can’t remember if it was sealed with a film of plastic cellophane and then once it was opened, I just used the red plastic lid that came over it? or if I had to open up the can with a can opener and then use the red lid to seal it up between uses?
These are commercially available ghee that I’ve bought in the past, and I’m not sure how easy or hard it is to transfer from one container to the other once it has cooled? (not to reuse these containers, necessarily, more as a guide to planning ahead which containers I should get or plan to use.) I have wide mouth canning jars, but most are taller than wider, so I don’t want to be unable to get to the ghee at the bottom of the jar. Or is it better to strain it and then after it is strained but before it gets too solid, then pour it into the intended container?
Anyway hope you are still accepting comments on this even though it’s an older blog. I am really anxious to try it out!
Thanks.
January 13th, 2012 at 12:06 amHi Anjuli-
Thank-you so much for this detailed Ghee recipe- It turned out perfect the very first time- those visuals are so incredibly helpful! It took me a little over a month to read all the reviews and read your directions so many times I could repeat them in my sleep- but the lovely golden Ghee which sits on my counter is a testament to your gift for teaching others using succinct instructions and fabulous images! YOU ROCK!
Kelli
January 26th, 2012 at 6:22 pm