Ghee - A Traditional Indian Fat Made From Butter June 17 2016

We're always looking to take advantage of time honored, healthy cooking fats.  Ghee is a type of clarified butter.

Ghee (from the Sanskrit for "bright") brings beautiful rich and soothing element to dishes. It has been used in India for centuries as a cooking fat. It is notable from butter due to its high smoke point. This is because it doesn't have milk solids to burn (they've been filtered out). So you can't do "browned butter" with this, but you can crank it up to saute.

To make ghee, butter (or cream less traditionally) is simmered evaporating water, causing the fat to separate from the milk solids and continued to cook with milk solids until they caramelize, which makes it the nutty-tasting and aromatic.

It also has many medicinal qualities according to Ayurvedic medicine including boosting digestion.  "In addition to being used as an ingredient and frying oil, it is an emblem of purity, an ancient offering to the gods, the fuel of holy lamps and funeral pyres"- On Food and Cooking by Harlod McGhee

The ghee we use from Purity Farms (a brand now owned by Organic Valley) and is pure milk fat. This means NO lactose and NO casein (or at least undetectable levels) remain in the fat. If you are intolerant you may be able to eat ghee. Read about their testing procedures.

The clear fat, ghee, is then filtered off the separated solids. The milk solids are often used for making candy in India. Ghee can have a shelf life of up to 8 months at room temperature.  This makes it awesome for camping, too!

Try it out in this week's Sweet and Crunchy Saffron Rice with Date and Almonds.