घृत
The other night I made ghee, or clarified butter, with my friends Tom and Christie. We used directions from my favorite new homesteading site, An Organic Wife. Here’s how it went:
When you clarify butter, you get rid of the “milk solids” (lactose and casein) and you’re left with the pure butterfat. While the idea of getting rid of the proteins and keeping just the fat seems counterintuitive to health, clarified butterfat is considered “good fat” and has several things going for it:
- It keeps longer at room temp.
- It can be cooked at a higher temp for longer without burning, making it a great replacement for saturated oils.
- If you’re sensitive to lactose, you can probably handle ghee.
In Ayurveda and in many Eastern cultures, ghee is considered a panacea for just about everything. I am on the fence about the subtle science behind ghee’s cure-all properties, but I’m certainly sold on its flavor and its winning attributes as a cooking fat.