Ghee or clarified butter is creamy, has a mild flavor, and one of its properties is that it does not contain lactose, making it suitable for people with intolerance to milk sugar.
Ghee butter originates from South Asian countries such as India, Malaysia, and Nepal. Most traditional Hindu dishes include clarified butter in their ingredient list.
Finding ghee butter in supermarkets or grocery stores is naturally difficult. However, you can do it at home.
This article analyzes the properties and benefits of ghee butter, and you can see a recipe to make it at home.
Ghee Butter – What is it?
Ghee or clarified butter is a type of butter made from ordinary butter.
Ghee is a type of purified butter free of water, lactose, and other milk components.
The main benefits of ghee butter are lactose-free, semi-liquid, and it pairs well with various spices.
Making clarified butter at home is easy. Simply bringing the ordinary butter to a simmer and filtering it removes certain impurities, and you get a completely different flavor.
Ghee Butter – Benefits
According to traditional Ayurveda medicine, the benefits of Ghee butter are: strengthening the immune system, improving the digestion process as well as having anti-aging properties.
Ghee is believed to have been used for millennia to enhance the healing power of herbs.
Today, it is known that one of the benefits of ghee butter is that the use of this type of fat is effective in dissolving certain active ingredients of the herbs. (1)
This is because some components of herbs and medicinal compounds can only dissolve in fats. In other words, the use of Ghee butter combined with herbs increases the assimilation of the active medicinal ingredients.
Nutritional properties of clarified butter
The nutritional properties of clarified butter are very similar to ordinary butter. The main difference is that it does not contain milk sugar: lactose.
For people with lactose intolerance, this may be an ideal substitute for ordinary butter in foods.
In terms of calories and essential nutrients, it is not a food that stands out. Below you can see a table of the nutritional value of 100 g of ghee butter:
| Calories | 900 Kcal |
| Protein | 0 |
| Total fat | 100 g |
| Carbohydrates | 0 |
| Fibers | 0 |
| Sugars | 0 |
| Minerals | |
| Football | 0 |
| Iron | 0 |
| Sodium | 0 |
| Vitamins | |
| C vitamin | 0 |
| Vitamin A | 4000 mg |
| Fats | |
| Saturated | 60 |
| Trans | 0 |
| Cholesterol | 200 mg |
Table of nutritional value Ghee butter (100 g). Source
How to make Ghee at home?
To make Ghee at home, you will need:
- Unsalted butter (200 g)
- A saucepan with a non-stick coating (aluminum or Teflon).
- A fine filter (if it is fabric better)
- Total cooking time: 20-30 minutes
preparation:
- Put the stick of butter in a saucepan and melt it over high heat without closing the lid. It will take 2-3 minutes.
2. When the butter is entirely liquid. Reduce the heat to medium and wait for it to come to a boil.
3. Slowly boil the butter for 1-2 minutes. A white foam should form on the surface – do not remove it. Reduce the heat to a minimum after the foam subsides (5-7 minutes).
4. Keep the butter over low heat for about 15-20 minutes.
5.Endpoint of the Ghee. The ideal is to obtain a solid yellow color with a sweet flavor similar to popcorn. Add a few drops of water. When they start to crackle aggressively, the Ghee butter is ready.
6. Remove the butter from the heat and let it cool for about 10-20 minutes. Pour into a glass jar and filter with a medium-size strainer and a fine cloth at room temperature. The goal is to remove the casein, lactose, and other ingredients from the separated milk during boiling.
How to choose butter to make Ghee? at home
Usually, water makes up about 20% of the butter. When preparing Ghee butter, this water evaporates. So the volume of the final product is less. The foam and sediment that remains at the bottom of the pan are the impurities present in the butter.
The higher the quality of the original shortening, the less foam and sediment it will have. Experiment with different brands of butter until you find one that performs well. The smaller the amount of deposit, the better.
How to use clarified Ghee?
Ghee can be added to all kinds of dishes to improve the flavor. Adding ghee butter to rice, making waffles, or even sauteed vegetables will bring out the natural flavors in surprising ways. In the Hindu tradition, Ghee is used to preparing milk and herbal teas.
Remember that the amount of calories and fat in the Ghee is even higher than that of the original butter. If a person’s goal is to lose weight, we do not recommend an excess in this type of food.
On the contrary, if the goal is weight gain, including Ghee in moderation is acceptable behavior. 100 g of ghee oil contains 98-99 g of fat (60% are saturated fatty acids). According to the WHO, in a healthy diet, a maximum of 10% of total calories should come from this type of fat. (4)
Butter flavor ghee vs. normal – Opinions
The flavor of the Ghee is smooth, pleasant, and caramelized. The consistency should be thick at room temperature. Most people who have tried Ghee and compared it to traditional butter opted for Ghee. Even the opinions were optimistic when the original butter was of low quality.
The taste of Ghee depends fundamentally on the endpoint in its preparation, just as it is essential not to overheat the Ghee for long periods if it turns dark and the taste turns bitter.
Ghee, gi or khi? – What is the correct name for clarified butter?
The original name of this butter is Ghee. The word is of Hindi origin. In English, the letter “h” is ignored. In Spanish, it is pronounced as “gi.” The history of Ghee butter is at least 5,000 years.
As with so many other words, the name of clarified butter was gradually modified by the rules of Latin pronunciation. Which has led to writing Ghee even in the form: of “khi,” which is wrong.
ABSTRACT
Ghee butter is one of the fundamental ingredients of Hindu gastronomy and traditional Ayurvedic medicine.
Ghee can be used not only to improve the taste of food but to enhance the active principles of medicinal herbs such as ashwagandha.
When preparing Ghee, the lactose, casein, and salt are removed from the butter. The key to achieving good taste is in the endpoint.
Ghee butter is a food high in calories and saturated fat. Exceeding its addition to meals is not a good idea for those who are losing weight.
