Ghee

By seamline

Ghee is butter that's been cooked to remove the milk protein solids and what remains is pure butter fat. You can simply make clarified butter by removing/skimming off the white, foamy protein as it cooks and releases from the fat, or you can cook it a bit longer until those proteins brown and sink in your pot, leaving a more nutty-tasting result which is ghee.

Since it is the pure fat portion of butter, it's a great cooking fat, and I even love it blended into my coffee in the morning (I can't do butter as it makes me break out).

Ingredients

• 2 pounds of grass-fed butter (Kerrygold, SMJÖR, or other pasture butter)

Details

Adapted from facebook.com

Preparation

Step 1

To make clarified butter:
Place the butter in a medium-sized, heavy weight saucepan, and melt it slowly over low heat. Allow the butter to simmer, and the milk solids will begin to float and become foamy at the top of the oil. Skim these milk solids off, and remove the butter from the heat. Pour it through a cheese cloth to strain out the milk solids. It is now clarified butter. Allow it to cool before filling the jars you will store it in. Store clarified butter in a glass jar in the refrigerator for up to a month.

If you’d like to turn the clarified butter into ghee:
allow the milk solids to continue to cook slowly until they become browned and begin to sink to the bottom of the pan. When there is no longer any material waiting to brown and sink to the bottom of the oil, the ghee is finished. Pour it through a cheese cloth to strain out the browned milk solids. Allow it to cool before filling the jars you will store it in. Store ghee in a glass jar in the refrigerator (or a cupboard if the weather isn’t too warm) for up to a month.

Variations:

Blend clarified butter or ghee 50/50 with coconut oil for a sweeter tasting cooking fat. If you make the blend, you will not likely want to refrigerate it as it will become very hard and difficult to use.