Ghee is sweet in taste and cooling in energy, rejuvenating, good for the eyes and vision, enkindles digestion, bestows luster and beauty, enhances memory and stamina, increases the intellect, promotes longevity, is an aphrodisiac and protects the body from various diseases. ––Bhavaprakasha (16th century Ayurvedic text)
Spring is the very best time of the year to make ghee, when the cows are eating green, fast-growing grass, flowers and herbs. Their butter and ghee are very yellow and very sweet.
In order to make the very best ghee you need to start with the very best unsalted butter. Only use organic butter. (Otherwise, you end up concentrating the hormones, steroids and antibiotics in your ghee). Try to use butter that is batch-churned. In California we have the butter that won the award for best butter in the world – Straus. (Straus butter is also certified to have no GMOs: strausfamilycreamery.com)
Use a stainless steel heavy-bottomed pot. The heavy bottom is to protect against excessive burning of the milk solids on the bottom.
Place the butter in the pot and start with a low flame until the butter is melted and then bring the liquid to a boil. Next, turn down the flame until the butter is bubbling with a slow boil. At first, a yellow froth will rise to the top. There is no need to skim this off unless you have to (because it is boiling over). If you do need to skim it off, simply save what you have taken off and when the frothing goes down you can add it back in. If you stop at this point you have clarified butter. But, this is not ghee.
Continue to boil the butter and depending on the amount of butter you have started with and the flame you are cooking with, it will take anywhere from a half an hour to several hours for the butter to ‘clarify’. What this means is that the butter has become lustrously clear and the milk solids (casein and lactose) have settled to the bottom where they have slightly burned or caramelized and all the moisture has been evaporated.
This is the most subtle stage of ghee making. To make ghee is to distill the essence of butter, which is the essence of milk, which is the essence of grass. To complete this essential distillation you need to remove all of the moisture that was in the original butter. We have found the very best way to determine this critical factor is to hold a room temperature, clear jar upside down over the boiling liquid about an inch above the surface. Then, look for any moisture showing up on the inside surface of the jar. When no condensation appears, the ghee is ready. Remember, the liquid must be boiling for this to be accurate. If the liquid were not boiling there would be a false positive of no condensation.
When the ghee is ready, it will smell, depending on the butter and the process, more or less like nutty popcorn. Then, take a folded (folded three to four times) piece of cheesecloth and line a screen or a colander with it. Then pour the ghee through the cheesecloth. Do not pour out the ‘stuff’ at the very bottom of the pot or any of the thick cloudy bits. We first heat our jars in the oven to prevent any condensation forming inside them when they receive the hot ghee. You do not want any moisture in ghee.
Allow the jar(s) to cool and then cover them with their lid. Moisture and sunlight are what spoil ghee. Always use a clean dry spoon to serve your ghee and don’t leave the jar open next to the area where you are cooking. Store your ghee in the dark in a temperature-stable environment. The best way to tell if ghee is good or bad is to smell it. If it smells sweet, it is. Well-made ghee can keep for many months.
Peter Malakoff is the founder of Ancient Organics Ghee. You can find him making ghee using the Mahamrtunjaya Mantra only on the full or waxing moons from pasturing cows in Northern California: ancientorganics.com.
By Peter Malakoff
