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Thursday 9 February 2012

Indian Clarified Butter - The Types of Ghee BY Liz Canham

It's a well known fact that Indian clarified butter is used extensively in Indian cooking but very few non-Indians know that there are various types of Ghee.  Not only are there types of ghee which come from the various animals i.e. sheep, goat, cow and buffalo but there is also Desi ghee, creamery butter, direct cream and pre-stratification.

The difference between they types of ghee is simply the production process.  Whereas ghee is processed by machine and is not local to any particular area but is generally of uniform quality, Desi ghee is usually made at home, albeit sometimes in nearly industrial quantities.

No matter what the process, the basic upshot is that because the butter or cream is subjected to high temperatures, the moisture is removed.  Clarification usually takes place at between 110 and 120ºC except in Southern India where the required temperature is between 120 and 140ºC.

The Desi method of creating ghee involves boiling whole milk and fermenting it with a culture which turns it into curdled milk or dahi.  The dahi is then churned with a corrugated wooden beater.  The butter is separated and clarified into ghee by heating in an open pan.

The creamery butter and direct cream methods are better suited to commercial manufacture because more fat is retained and the direct cream method results in ghee which keeps better over time.  The pre-stratification method is thought to be economical because of low fuel consumption and it too is thought to have a longer shelf life although this method has not been tested on an industrial scale.

If you want to try the difference between the types of ghee by making your own, here are two of the methods.

Creamery butter ghee:

Separate milk and cream and allow the cream to curdle.  Churn the curdled cream and you end up with buttermilk and creamery butter.  Melt the creamery butter at a constant temperature which results in molten ghee.  Allow to stand for a while then decant into a container, discard the ghee residue.

Desi ghee:

Boil milk and allow to cool when lactic culture is added.  Allow to ferment for 10 to 16 hours until the milk has curdled and you have dahi.  Add a small amount of water and churn; this results in buttermilk and Desi butter.  Melt the Desi butter, allow to stand, decant and discard residue as before.

These are the two most common types of ghee preparation but of course the milk can come from the animal of your choice.


Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/recipes-articles/indian-clarified-butter-the-types-of-ghee-5125058.html

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