Ghee

• 1. Introduction

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  Ghee, a clarified butter from the Indian subcontinent, appears in the Mahabharata at the birth of the Kaurava, who were born from pots of it. Few cooking fats carry that kind of mythic weight. Yet ghee is also a practical thing. It is a fat for frying, a traditional medicine and an offering poured into sacred fires. This documentary follows it from the simmering pan to the altar to the market shelf. Along the way it asks how plain butter becomes ghee, what makes the fat so central to the food of so many regions, and why health authorities and enthusiasts reach such different verdicts about it.

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• 2. Word Roots

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  The Hindi word घी, written ghī in Latin letters, descends from an older term, घृत, which means clarified butter. Traditionally, that older term is traced to the root ghṛ, meaning to sprinkle.

  Ancient Greek supplies a distant cousin in khristós, meaning rubbed or anointed. The English word Christ comes from that Greek term. An Indian cooking fat and a famous English title therefore share a remote ancestor.

  But before anything can be sprinkled or anointed, the butter itself has to be transformed.

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• 3. Making Ghee

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  At its simplest, ghee begins with butter simmering in a pan. Cooks skim impurities from the surface and pour off the clear liquid fat. They throw away the solid residue that settles at the bottom. Some add spices for flavour. The finished texture, colour and taste depend on the quality of the butter, the milk behind it and how long the butter boils.

  Ordinary clarified butter is finished once the water has evaporated and the fat has been separated from the milk solids. Ghee goes a step further. The extra simmering gives it a nutty taste and a distinct aroma.

  A traditional Ayurvedic recipe starts with raw milk, boiled and then cooled to 43 C. The milk sits covered at room temperature for around 12 hours. A little dahi, or yogurt, is stirred in, and the mixture rests overnight, producing more yogurt. That yogurt is churned with water to give cultured butter, and the cultured butter is simmered into ghee.

  Producers also use several other methods. The milk butter method churns sour raw milk into butter, boils it in an open pan so the water evaporates, then stores the hot ghee. The direct cream method turns fresh, cultured or washed cream straight into ghee. It needs a long heating time and gives a caramelised flavour. The cream butter method first separates milk into cream, churns the cream into butter and then clarifies the butter with heat.

  Pre-stratification suits large quantities. Butter is melted at 80-85 C for 30 minutes, which sorts it into layers of protein particles, fat and buttermilk. The buttermilk is drained away. The remaining fat is heated to 110 C to drive off moisture and build flavour. Industrial producers, meanwhile, work from white butter, usually bought from other dairies and contractors.

  That 110 C figure is one of several temperatures that quietly decide how ghee tastes.

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• 4. Flavour and Heat

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  Ghee made at 100 C or lower has a milder flavour, while ghee made at 120 C tastes strong. Chemists name carbonyls, free fatty acids, lactones and alcohols as its main flavour components. The flavour of the milk fat itself, the ripening of the butter and the clarifying temperature all play a part.

  The same fat performs well in the pan. Its smoke point, the temperature at which its molecules begin to break down, is 250 C. Typical cooking temperatures sit around 200 C. Most vegetable oils start to break down sooner than ghee does, which makes it a useful fat for deep frying.

  Where that heat-tolerant fat ends up depends heavily on the region and the occasion.

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• 5. Sacred Fire

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  Since the Vedic period, ghee has served in ritual, and it is traditionally made from bovine milk, either cow or water buffalo. In Vedic yajña and homa, the fire rituals, it is a sacred requirement. Offerings of ghee pass through Agni, the fire, to various deities, with the Yajurveda cited as a reference. Fire rituals mark ceremonies including marriage and funerals.

  Lamps and ritual baths for the gods also depend on ghee. In Vedic worship of mūrtis, or divine images, the aarti offering is a ghee lamp called a diyā or dīpa. For Pañcāmṛta, also spelled Panchamruta, ghee joins mishri, honey, milk and dahi to bathe the deities. This is done on Janmashtami, the appearance day of Krishna, and on Maha Shivaratri for Shiva. A hymn to ghee exists as well.

  Ghee even has a role in preparing bhang. Heating cannabis in it causes decarboxylation, which makes the drink psychoactive.

  Buddhist scripture also reaches for dairy as a metaphor. Its stages of dairy production stand for stages of enlightenment, and the highest product is called sarpir-maṇḍa. It is theorised to be ghee or clarified butter.

  Away from the altar, the same fat anchors daily meals, and its role changes from state to state.

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• 6. A Subcontinent's Kitchen

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  In Maharashtra, polis, the Indian flatbreads, come with ghee, and in Rajasthan it often accompanies baati. All over North India, roti is served with it. In Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, ghee arrives alongside dosa and kesari bhath. Bengal, both West Bengal and Bangladesh, and Gujarat share khichdi, an evening meal of rice and lentils. It is cooked in a curry of dahi, cumin seeds, curry leaves, cornflour, turmeric, garlic, salt and ghee.

  In Odisha, ghee is a major ingredient in Odia dishes such as khechedi and dalma. The sattvic food prepared in most of the state's temples relies on it. In the Bhojpuri region, ghee is called gheeu and is used in every dish alongside mustard oil. Litti is usually dipped in it before eating.

  North Indians are among the biggest consumers of ghee. Parathas, daals and curries there often use it instead of oil for a richer taste. They also add it to rice eaten with pickles, dal and curries. In South Indian cuisine, it tempers curries and goes into rice dishes and sweets. The vegetarian dishes of Andhra Pradesh use it for savoury and sweet preparations alike.

  Mysore pak, varieties of halva and laddu all contain ghee, as do kadhi and traditional rice preparations such as biryani. Indian restaurants typically use large amounts. Some brush naan and roti with it, either during preparation or just before serving.

  The animal behind the ghee changes with the dish. Ghee from cow's milk, called gaoa ghi in Bengali, is traditional with rice or roti, or as a finishing drizzle over curry or dal. Buffalo milk ghee is more typical for general cooking.

  How such a rich fat fits into a modern diet is another matter, and official bodies disagree about it.

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• 7. Health and Composition

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  The British Dietetic Association, the British Nutrition Foundation, the National Health Service, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and the World Health Organization all advise limiting ghee. Their concern is its high saturated fat content. Like any clarified butter, ghee is almost entirely fat. One commercial preparation in India was found to contain significant amounts of trans fats, while others contained significantly less.

  Supporters make a different case. They call ghee a superfood, pointing to antioxidants, vitamins E, A, D and K, and the minerals magnesium, calcium, phosphorus and potassium. Its fat content is said to help the body absorb those nutrients. Beneficial effects on cognitive health and skin health have also been reported.

  For people with lactose intolerance or a milk allergy, ghee has one clear advantage. It contains negligible amounts of lactose and casein, so most of them can accept it.

  Milk from cows, buffaloes and sheep, all domesticated ungulates, can become ghee, and the composition shifts with the animal. Measured vitamin A ranged from 315 to 375 μg per 100 grams. Palmitic acid and oleic acid were two of the main fatty acids in both cow and sheep ghee. Saturated fatty acids made up 53.9-66.8 percent, unsaturated fatty acids 22.8-38.0 percent, and other fatty acids 3.5-10.4 percent. Cholesterol ranged from 252 to 284 mg per 100 grams.

  Whatever nutrients a jar holds, ghee keeps them only if the jar is looked after.

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• 8. Jars and Markets

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  Airtight glass jars are the usual home for ghee, kept away from direct sunlight. Sunlight can build moisture inside the jar, and moisture damages quality and shortens shelf life. UV rays from sunlight and fluorescent lights also accelerate oxidation. An unopened jar kept in those conditions does not need refrigeration.

  Once a jar is opened, it can sit in a kitchen cabinet for up to three months. After that, it may go in the refrigerator for up to a year. The cold hardens the ghee, but a while at room temperature softens it again.

  In 2016, the ghee market in India was valued at 10,000 crore rupees, or US$1.5 billion. India is the world's largest producer of buffalo and cow milk, which makes it the largest producer and consumer of ghee as well. Every one of those rupees traces back to the milk that fills ghee jars and sacred lamps alike.

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