How do you make GHEE?

[Guest guest]

In this mail I am describing the system to make ghee from milk-yogurt-butter

milk-butter-ghee. I think my putting it on cow conference is correct even

though it was asked to me as a personal question. If someone finds it not at

right place please delete it and sorry for that.

 

> Thank you for your valuable contribution. It really convinced me to

> start producing my own ghee. Therefore, could you kindly describe in

> detail the traditional/ayurvedic way of manufacturing ghee, please (how

> to produce the best possible yoghurt, then butter, then ghee), esp. the

> step how you transform yoghurt into butter?

It requires a churning rod. It is yet easily available in India. There are

two types. For daily milk to range of 3-5 litres we can use hand held

churning rod. There is no need of rope in this system. The rod is rotated

clock wise and anticlockwise by hand itself. If one has more milk then we

require to churn with rope. I can't explain the set up on computer. It has

to be seen or shown with a diagram.

>

> Thanks so much in advance for your help.

> Your servant,

> Vedanta-krit dasa

 

All the ladies in house hold knew the art. Not even in India it is vanishing

or rather vanished in cities and vanishing in villages. May take a

generation more.

 

I just had a long talk about this with my mother and now writing it on mail.

I use to do it on small quantities and few times a year as per my

requirement, Now my mother is also initiated devotee. This is what I learned

from her about the way she makes herself which is traditional system.

 

This system was practised when even fridge(refrigirator) were not there.

Milk is boiled. It has to be cooled and allowed to remain without

disturbance. It has to remain atleast of 10 hours. In this time the cream

gets collected on top of milk in nice thick layer. If you boil the milk and

keep it again for few hours again some cream is collected. Only the cream

from top has to be removed. Very little milk might come cream. But extra

milk should be avoided.

 

Then we add little yogurt in the cream. Keep such cream for 6-8 hours so the

cream also turns in yogurt. You can add little cream on top of this

cream-yougrt so that after some time(6-8) this added cream will also turn

into yogurt. But if have enough(say 3-4litre) milk daily then you can need

not do this system. You can then churm butter on daily basis. But if you

have enough milk but less time then as well you can go on adding cream from

top of milk each time so that we go on collecting more of cream turned in

yogurt. But we cannot do this for more than three days as the first yogurt

might start get to spoil. Better to churn daily if we have enough milk or

alteast on alternate days. More delay is not suggested. One more day can be

added on emergency.

 

Then take the churning rod and start churning the cream turned into yogurt.

There is prevelant system to add little warm water at begining of churning.

My mother said she would just wash the vessel and churning rod with warm

vessel just before churning. So do either and churn. Exact technique has to

be seen but even if you churn anyway butter will come. Only thing is little

less butter will come or you have to do some more labour. But by practise

one can perfect churning technique.

 

One has to churn it throughly so that all the butter comes out and it gets

seperated from buttermilk. As you churn the butter starts collecting and

then slowly collect it together in a one ball of butter. This can be

removed. At the end of churning we might add little cold water. This helps

in collecting butter together in one ball of butter. Cold water has to be

added only after we have churned enough and butter is already formed. Cold

water only helps to get butter together. After we remove the butter we might

or not add more water. what remains in vessel is nutritious, delecious

buttermilk which as well tastes excellent.

 

Take the butter and collect in a vessel. In present days you can store the

butter for a week in a fridge. In previous times the butter was kept

submerged in water in a pot. We can go on adding more butter when ever we

make. But the water has to be changed everyday sa whenever we add butter. In

this way the butter remains without getting spoilt for about a week.

 

Then take all the butter in vessel and heat it over a stove on slow flame.

In some time the butter will get heated and get changed into ghee. This

process of heating butter if very fragrent and if you have original cow

butter the fragrance is uncomparable. Heat butter nicely till all the butter

becomes into ghee. Boil a little more so ghee becomes slightly(very little)

brown in colour. This extra heating is required so that the ghee remain good

for long time.

 

Then ghee can be collected in a seperate vessel. During haeting of butter

some matter might settle in ghee as solids at bottom of vessel. I don't know

what they call it in english. In marathi(my mother tongue) we call it beri.

This beri is not bad. But better to collect the top pure ghee seperately if

we want to keep ghe for long time(say more than a week). Then this beri with

some ghee can be used for cookin or honouring it directly may be with some

sugar.

 

The process is over.

 

please tell me if you perform this experiment.

 

Now a days with advent of fridge some ladies just keep cream in fridge. They

collect few days cream in fridge and without converting in yogurt they just

churn the cream with the rod. But this is not traditional system and got

introduces only after refrigirator.

 

Your Servant

Madan Gopal Das