The last thing we learned from the Dairy Making 101 workshop was Making Clarified Butter (or Ghee in South Asia ). Clarified butter has a higher smoke point than regular butter which is good for high heat cooking. Clarified butter also has a much longer shelf life than fresh butter. It can be stored without refrigeration when kept in an airtight container.
We started off with melting unsalted butter (preferably organic) in a large pot.
Here is the pot of melted butter bubbling away. You may give it a stir once in a while.
You can flavour your clarified butter with herbs which render their flavour through the oil in them. Thomas flavoured one pot with garlic and rosemary and another with cardamon. I brought some of the clarified butter flavoured with garlic and rosemary home. It smells wonderful.
Clarified butter is made by rendering the milk solids and water from the butter fat. The foam which sticks to the sides of the pot and also those at the bottom of the pot is milk solids. Milk solid is not good for consumption but it is very good for your skin. Thomas uses the milk solid which sticks to the sides of the pot, not those at the bottom as a lotion. When the water evaporates, the volume of the clarified butter will reduce. Cook until all the water evaporated.
You just have to make sure that the solids at the bottom of the pot does not get burned.
Thomas made some chocolate spread using some unflavoured clarified butter. It is like nutella.
Click on Read More for the instructions.
Instructions
One of my nutrition professors noted that this type of oil/fat is very unhealthy due to the hydrogenation of the saturated fats. Just a reminder =)
Hi Karina,
Are you sure you are not referring to margarine or shortening rather than butter? To my understanding, hydrogenation is what “hardens” oils to a semi-solid state. So, unless the ghee was made from hydrogenated oils, that should not be an issue. Of course, over-consumption of any type of oil/fat regardless of its original source is not good for your health.
Note: I am using “oil” here to refer to those from vegetable origin, you know, canola oil, olive oil, peanut oil, etc. And “fat” to those from animal origin.
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