Golden Ghee

Ghee is the Sanskrit word for the purified essence of butter. You may know it as clarified butter. Best known in India as Desi, usli, or khara ghee. Traditionally it is made by churning clotted or heavy cream into fluffy butter and then simmered until milk solids separate from the fat and settle on the bottom of the pan. Through the heating process the impurities are removed. What you are left with is an intelligent fat that quickly converts to ojas.
 
Ayurveda highly recommends this fat as it sustains its integrity through the cooking process. Low in cholesterol, it provides essential fatty acids.
Ghee is the most easily digestible fat. Small amounts daily can be helpful for constipation or people suffering from IBS, as it is very soothing to the digestive tract. An antioxidant containing both A and E vitamins, it is a wonderful replacement to popular unhealthy oil such as corn, sunflower, and safflower. These polyunsaturated oils create free radicals because methods used to process them destroy their nutritional value. Ghee does not smoke, bubble, or burn as these other fats do even at high temperatures. You can use it for deep- frying and at the table.
There is really no substitute for the pleasant aroma and digestive ease of this sweet golden liquid.
Category:Blue Ribbon Winners
Category:Indian Food Glossary