96
Methods of Preparation of Ghee
This high acidity alone will degrade and ruin the very best quality ghee and reduce the
storage property (autoxidation once started will go on uninterrupted) of the ghee from ½ to
1/10th the original value if ghee is prepared after storing the butter for a week, and to
½ to l/20th if after a fortnight's storage.
PREPARATION OF GHEE IN DHINOJ, BARODA*
Dhinoj is situated in north Gujerat. It is an important ghee centre in the Baroda state
(Mehsana district.) Large quantities of ghee are collected, refined and exported from this
place. It has also a large population of some of the best buffaloes of Gujerat.
Samples were taken and experiments were carried out in Dhinoj proper. Butter as such
is not prepared, sold or consumed in this area ; and hence in a few hours after churning,
butter is usually melted into ghee.
The animals are milked twice a day, at 7 or 7-30 a.m., and at about the same hour in
the evening. Untinned brass vessels are invariably used for drawing milk. Samples were
taken immediately after milking, and the acidity and lactose determined.
Milk is neither heat-treated nor processed in any way, nor even seeded with any starter
such as curd or buttermilk. Only in winter, for about three months or so, is any starter
used. The morning milk, left over after the household and other demands are met, is kept
in an earthen pot and laid aside in a corner or in a cupboard. The evening milk is also poured
into the same vessel and allowed to curdle. The milk curdles in about 10 hours at a room
temperature of 33°-35°C. The same process is followed on the second day in a separate pot.
The curd is churned on the third day early in the morning, between 4 and 5 a.m., by
the usual village method. The texture of the curd is generally gassy, with a solid crust on
the surface and some serum at the bottom. The flavour and taste are sharply acid but
not unpleasant. The curd in the case of the control sample, though mild in taste and
flavour as compared to other samples, was slightly lumpy.
At the commencement of the churning no water is added, but when the curd is about to
break, cold water about equal in volume to that of the curd is added. The butter is not
washed, but it is melted over a very low fire into ghee within 2-3 hours after churning.
During the process the butterfat or ghee does not boil, care being taken to see that the
casein does not get charred but retains a white colour. The degree of heating butter
for conversion into ghee varies with different agricultural communities. The Anjanas or the
Chowdharies see that the butterfat does not boil and that the casein remains white ; with
the Patidars, the scum or casein takes up a light brown tint; with the Thakardas, it becomes
dark brown and the ghee takes on a cooked flavour.
The earthenware used in the process is first scrubbed with hot water and a rag and then
steamed for about 10-15 minutes by inverting it over a small brass vessel in which water is
kept boiling over a fire. The cleanliness of the cattle, housing, milking and other processes
left much to be desired.
Experiments were carried out in the laboratory following the Dhinoj practice of using
unprocessed milk and allowing the milk to sour by itself for two days. Even if ghee be
prepared by the decantation process, there is a partial loss of vitamin A and great reduction
in storage property (induction period).
PREPARATION OF ghee AT IZATNAGAR, UNITED PROVINCES†
The village process of the manufacture of ghee was conducted at the Imperial Veteri-
nary Research Institute, Izatnagar, and the data on the quality of milk, curd and butter
are given in Table XVII. The samples of ghee were analysed for acidity, vitamin A and
induction period as soon as they were received at Bangalore. Bazaar butter samples
were obtained from neighbouring villages on 11 January, 1945, and the acidity was at once
determined. Ghee was prepared from each butter sample by boiling for 2-3 minutes
followed by decantation. On the next day the acidity of ghee was measured. Four samples
were thus obtained. On receipt at Bangalore, the samples were tested as before for acidity,
vitamin A and induction period. The results are given in Table XVII.
From Table XVII it is evident that all the samples of ghee are of low acidity, but after
two months of storage, the ghee developed off flavour without a marked rise in acidity.
The bazaar samples (winter) were fairly good as judged by organoleptic tests, but all the
samples had a low vitamin A value and induction period. This is due to the defective souring
process. The lactose and acidity contents of the curd confirm this observation.
*Through the courtesy of Dr C. C. Shah.
†Through the courtesy of Dr K. C. Sen.