ghee or clarified butter

[moolie]

I have never seen or used ghee- after it cools, does it solidify, of stay liquid?

Definitely solid once it cools, however it's more yellow than a block of butter and kinda translucent/oily looking although you can't see through it

 

[moolie]

Aint u tube the best...
i have learned so much from there...
You can can it too...though i haven't tryed it yet...

When I go to the states, I pick up gallon tubs of butter
from a small dairy...WAY cheaper than buying it by the pound here..
should do another trip and make some

I love small producers like that, always so great to find

 

[moolie]

According to my research, ghee will last for years at room temp. And it's a lot easier than those canned-butter recipes out there, IMHO. No shaking involved.

Essentially, it's just rendered butter. As you cook it you remove the water first, then the protein, which crosslinks and falls to the bottom, red-brown and sandy texture.

The foam is from the ambiphillic nature of protein. If you can stand it, leave the foam in and let it cook out.

I do 5-6 lb per batch. Stored in clean 1/2 pt jars it keeps well. I've had some last 1 year. Others claim more. The popular interwebs cooking pages drastically underestimate the life of this stuff. But my Indian friends tell me it stores very well.

BTW, it does taste a little different from butter.

Yeah, the stuff from Superstore has a really long expiry date on it, mine just doesn't last long enough for me to keep it any longer than a month or two!

Curious about why you use the half pint jars? A pound of butter nearly fills a pint jar so that's what I've always used. Might make a different volume in the US, apparently Canadian butter has a high water content.

One youtube video I watched, on www.showmethecurry.com, showed a neat trick for getting rid of the foam--by adding a tablespoonful of water at the end of the cooking time. It sizzled and boiled up and the foam all sort of went off to the edges and some seemed to go away. I just skim when I do it, only takes away a few spoonfuls.

 

[ORChick]

I have also heard many good things about ghee, and have planned to make it ... but never did. Then, last summer, a friend came to visit, and (as we were the last stop before going home) left most of her travel food with us. Part of that was most of a pound of salted butter. I don't use salted butter usually, having a low tolerance for salt, but I thought maybe I could clarify it, and use the residue with vegetables that need a bit of salt with them. The clarifying was easy, and as it turned out the salt was mostly left behind. The ghee has been very useful - I keep it in a closed container in a cupboard near the stove. Interestingly, the remaining solids, although very salty, were quite addictive for me; I don't crave salt in any way, but I used the salty remains from the ghee to season vegetables, and was sorry when it was gone. I will make ghee again when this is gone, though from unsalted butter. The salty remains made me think of salty buttered popcorn that my mother used to make. I didn't make popcorn while I had this residue, but it would have fit with it perfectly.

Interesting that you used salted butter, everything I found on the topic said to use unsalted. Definitely try it again with the unsalted, I did a big freezer cook this morning and sauted all my onions for the various dishes in ghee--the kitchen smelled heavenly!

Moolie, everything I have read also says to use unsalted butter. But since I had this salted butter given me, and had a hard time imagining using it for anything else (I have a major sensitivity to salt in food; what other people find acceptable, or perhaps even undersalted, is often too salty for me) I thought I would give it a try, and see what happened. As mentioned, the salt was left behind in the remainder; the ghee itself does not taste salty at all. In future I will use the unsalted butter that I normally buy, but this was a successful experiment.

 

[mythreesons]

Ive been wanting to try my hand at canning butter for long term use...I watch bexarprepper or katzcradle on youtube maybe yoy woukd be interested in their technique?

 

[Emerald]

When I was younger it was one of my jobs at the one restaurant to make this a couple times a week as clarified butter doesn't burn like just a pat of butter. didn't know it was Ghee until many years later. and even tho the restaurant had to keep it in the fridge(food safety protocols ya know) I was told by the chef there that it would last for a few weeks on the counter. I used to make it to take hiking as for only the few days we were out it never ever went bad. and by day three or four of the trip you really do need some comfort foods. made the pancakes such a treat.
I have a few lbs in the freezer that I'm thinking about using up but maybe I'll make some Ghee!

 

[~gd]

When I was younger it was one of my jobs at the one restaurant to make this a couple times a week as clarified butter doesn't burn like just a pat of butter. didn't know it was Ghee until many years later. and even tho the restaurant had to keep it in the fridge(food safety protocols ya know) I was told by the chef there that it would last for a few weeks on the counter. I used to make it to take hiking as for only the few days we were out it never ever went bad. and by day three or four of the trip you really do need some comfort foods. made the pancakes such a treat.
I have a few lbs in the freezer that I'm thinking about using up but maybe I'll make some Ghee!

I think ghee and clarified butter are slightly different in that in the prep of ghee the water content is boiled off. When we make clarified butter [aka drawn butter] for a clam bake the butter is just heated untill the fat floated on top of the water layer and was drawn off to dip steamed clams or sweet corn into. Any one know for sure? ~gd

 

[Emerald]

not sure but the way I was taught to make it was to cook it till the water was gone and the bits were brown. any water left in there *as I was told by chef* would make it spoil. I also had to skim all the foam.
We also had "drawn" butter that was just melted butter for the seafood I wonder if it is a regional thing?

 

[Blaundee]

Can you use ghee instead of lard to make soap?

 

[ORChick]

Can you use ghee instead of lard to make soap?

I've never made soap, but I have a hard time imagining a cost effective way to make soap out of expensive butter. I think "in the old days" the off cuts from fatty meat were rendered down for soap.