A great way to start this New Year is to make a jar of heart healthy ghee. It’s not difficult to make, it takes a teeny bit of your time and a wee bit of patience. The hardest part of the process is staying by the saucepan. This is crucial, especially towards the end of the cooking time. Your patience will be rewarded with delicious wafts of warm butter swirling around your kitchen, and a gleaming jar of liquid gold. Now isn’t that a great way to start the year….
Both my grandmothers would say that ghee makes us stronger. I am sure it does as long as we don’t overdo it.
When I was younger and in Harare, I loved to be near the home of the bride-to-be during weddings. I found it exciting to watch the food being made for the different wedding ceremonies, especially the ghee. Vats of ghee were made a few weeks before the wedding. And because ghee is the base for most things eaten at weddings, we made A LOT.
We made about fifty pounds of butter at a time. A small wood fire was made in the garden where a gigantic pot, called a degh, was balanced onto a tripod of building bricks over the fire. In we’d toss the slabs of butter and the magic was left to unfold.
Oh, I can’t possible describe the sheer bliss I felt breathing in the wafting aromas of the ghee. “Pure heaven!”, I’d say. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.
Who new then, that years later I would be melting mounds of butter in giant pots in the USA! My days of making ghee to sell commercially are over. However, I’d love to share with you how to make ghee at home. It really is so easy, and the warm cozy feeling you get after making ghee can’t be beat!
Make Ghee at Home
Ingredients
2 lbs sweet cream organic butter or grass-fed butter (preferably high fat content).
To Make
- Place a wire sieve onto a clean and dry glass jar.
- Line the sieve with a coffee filter.
- Put the butter into a saucepan and place over a medium high heat.
- Stir occasionally until the butter has melted.
- Reduce the heat to medium and bring the butter to a gentle boil.
- After several minutes, a slight foam will form, which is okay and it will prevent you from seeing the liquid below. Gently push it away with a spoon or skim it off if you’d like.
- You will know the ghee is ready when the liquid changes from a very opaque buttery yellow to a golden orange clear liquid. During this process the milk solids will sink to the bottom of the pan.
- Once the liquid reaches a golden amber and there is very little froth on the surface of the ghee (which will happen quickly), immediately remove from the heat.
- Gently and carefully pour the beautiful amber liquid into the prepared glass jar/s.
- Close with a lid and leave to cool.
- Store in a cool dark cupboard.
- It will keep for months at room temperature.
- Tips and Childhood memories
I personally like to use salted butter as I feel it imparts a distinct flavor.
In summer the Ghee will not completely solidify due to obvious reasons. Whereas in winter it will.
Here’s a couple of photos that may explain a little better of what to expect when making ghee…
Melting butter in saucepan.
You will know the ghee is ready when the liquid changes from a very opaque buttery yellow (above picture) to a golden orange clear liquid (below picture).
Once the liquid reaches a golden amber and there is very little froth on the surface of the ghee, which will happen quickly (above picture). Immediately remove from the heat.
During this process the milk solids will sink to the bottom of the pan (below picture)
Gently and carefully pour the beautiful amber fat through a sieve, lined with a coffee filter or brown paper towel, into a clean and dry glass jar.
Leave to cool.
Store in a cool dark cupboard.
It will keep for months at room temperature.
For the Love of Ghee,
XOXO
Shamim
For The Love Of Ghee 