Make your own Ghee

[herondancer]

AI just made a batch here, and it came out crumbly too. It doesn't seem to affect how well it works. It made a great batch of blinis. I'm wondering if they don't whip it or something like that to make it more creamy before packaging it. Ok for a commercial products but I'm not sure how practical it would be for a home operation. We were going to experiment with blending the next batch with some grape seed oil as an extender. That might give it a smoother consistency. Conversely, coconut oil would make it more solid at room temperature. Learning is fun! :)

 

[Mrs.Tigersoap]

Need to get some sort of cloth then to strain it through. I'm sure he'll be overjoyed about that.

FWIW, a mesh tea strainer works as well and is less messy. That's what we use.

 

[ursula]

I'm wondering if they don't whip it or something like that to make it more creamy before packaging it. Ok for a commercial products but I'm not sure how practical it would be for a home operation. We were going to experiment with blending the next batch with some grape seed oil as an extender. That might give it a smoother consistency. Conversely, coconut oil would make it more solid at room temperature. Learning is fun! :)

Quite possible that they whip it to make it more creamy. The idea with grape seed oil is interesting. I have made a quick search, because I did not know that you can use this oil for cooking. And I was quite surprised that it has a high smoke point (216 °C or 421 °F). So it can be used to fry things.

 

[Mrs. Peel]

My selfmade Ghee has a crumbly consistancy and it is not liquid at room temperature. I wonder if it is ok because the Ghee I bought in organic grocery store was more creamy and liquid. Which consistence does your Ghee have?

I keep ours in the refrigerator, and it turns solid and basically looks like... butter. :D

I do notice when I try and scoop some out to use, it does crumble, or flake.

 

[dugdeep]

Need to get some sort of cloth then to strain it through. I'm sure he'll be overjoyed about that.

FWIW, a mesh tea strainer works as well and is less messy. That's what we use.

Me too :) Sometimes I'll put an unbleached paper towel in too, just to make sure no smaller proteins get through.

 

[KTC]

Funny, I had always avoided using ghee because I found the name so unappealing and I associated it with what I thought must have ben an awful taste. But having read these posts it sounds as though ghee might even be yummy. I'm going to make my own tomorrow and report back... To the store for some organic butter

 

[dugdeep]

It IS yummy :D

 

[whitecoast]

Ghee is great. :) I've tried making a couple of batches so far, but for some reason or other I keep over-cooking it (I use a stove top). I think my issue lies with my getting impatient waiting for the solids to rise to the top, making me speed up the process by raising the temperature unnecessarily.

The Connecting The Dots video about Nutrition mentioned a way to extract casein from milk by boiling the milk and then adding vinegar. I was wondering if a similar approach could work to help speed up the extraction of the milk solids in plain butter as well? Even if you have a vinegar allergy, vinegar has a low boiling point and should evaporate off long before the last of the water is out of the ghee.

I confess I've yet to try this, but I'll post back in a couple of days (after my last batch runs out) and report back.

As for the question of whether or not to use salted or unsalted butter, I find that the salt, being water-soluble, just sticks to the glycoproteins and doesn't affect the flavor of the pure ghee at all. Personally, I like to use the salt to help detect pockets or areas of impurities in batches.

 

[denekin]

Thirty or so years ago I used to get Ghee from an East Indian grocery in San Francisco. It looked like golden honey.
And it stayed liquid at room temperature. I can't remember at what temperature is became solid, if it did.
My hindu friends have told me that real ghee stays liquid until it gets quite cold. What is being sold in health food stores, which is yellow, and opaque,
would not be considered ghee by those who use it the most (Hindus).
I had a friend who was Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's cook for several years. His recipe for ghee ( I hope I remember this correctly) was to bring it to a boil it and strain it three times.
And I think this much butter makes half as much ghee. One pound butter=half a pound of ghee. That's why it's so expensive. He used to make gallons of ghee at a time.
Whip up a tablespoon of honey with a tablespoon of ghee. Yuum!

 

[Nienna]

Whip up a tablespoon of honey with a tablespoon of ghee. Yuum!

Honey is nothing more than sugar. Best to stay away from it, as with sugar, it causes all kinds of problem for the body when ingested.

 

[whitecoast]

Hi all. I ended up never getting to use the vinegar for making ghee on a stovetop.
But that's because I found a better method! I now just throw it in the oven at 280 degrees Fahrenheit for about 2 hours-- it performs the fat and protein separation just as well, and it never burns! (I tend to multitask, so I prefer the oven due to higher error tolerance

 

[Voyageur]

Hi all. I ended up never getting to use the vinegar for making ghee on a stovetop.
But that's because I found a better method! I now just throw it in the oven at 280 degrees Fahrenheit for about 2 hours-- it performs the fat and protein separation just as well, and it never burns! (I tend to multitask, so I prefer the oven due to higher error tolerance

Thanks, will have to try this. How much vinegar did you use per/Ibs? My usual method is same as many, stove top and cheese cloth stained. Almost always over cook though, much attention is needed, not impatiens's, which is often the cause.

 

[whitecoast]

Hi all. I ended up never getting to use the vinegar for making ghee on a stovetop.
But that's because I found a better method! I now just throw it in the oven at 280 degrees Fahrenheit for about 2 hours-- it performs the fat and protein separation just as well, and it never burns! (I tend to multitask, so I prefer the oven due to higher error tolerance

Thanks, will have to try this. How much vinegar did you use per/Ibs? My usual method is same as many, stove top and cheese cloth stained. Almost always over cook though, much attention is needed, not impatiens's, which is often the cause.

Oh, I ended up not using vinegar to help the extraction. I decided against it because I checked out some of the videos on youtube about how to get casein (a glycoprotein like gluten) out of milk for making plastic, and I don't think the vinegar managed to separate the fat from the protein - I think it just stuck it all together and separated it from the water in the milk.

Another thing that made me doubt it is that it's a relatively simple technique, but I haven't heard of anyone else doing it or trying it yet. That makes me suspect it wasn't successful. But if you do decide to go forth, let us know how it goes :)

I'll just stick with slow-cooking it in an oven.

 

[Voyageur]

[quote author=whitecoast]
Oh, I ended up not using vinegar to help the extraction. I decided against it because I checked out some of the videos on youtube about how to get casein (a glycoprotein like gluten) out of milk for making plastic, and I don't think the vinegar managed to separate the fat from the protein - I think it just stuck it all together and separated it from the water in the milk.

Another thing that made me doubt it is that it's a relatively simple technique, but I haven't heard of anyone else doing it or trying it yet. That makes me suspect it wasn't successful. But if you do decide to go forth, let us know how it goes :)

I'll just stick with slow-cooking it in an oven.
[/quote]

My mistake for not reading the original post correctly, was thinking that you had tried it with vinegar in the oven.

Well not sure if i'll undertake a trial with a pound of butter to see if the vinegar works, but will follow the oven recipe you provided - thanks :)