Ghee Recipe

Ghee has a variety of health and cooking benefits and is good for the mind and spirit. Here is our Ghee recipe: Place a pound of organic unsalted butter in a heavy saucepan. Allow the butter to melt either on top of the stove or in the oven. Note: It is possible to make ghee from salted butter, but the salt will mask the delicate flavor of the finished product. Stir occasionally and bring the butter to a slow boil. When a layer of foam covers the surface, lower the heat and continue to cook undisturbed for about 1 hour on top of the stove or slightly longer (1¼ to 1½ hours) in the oven. By then, the butter will have separated. Under the layer of solid white surface foam will be amber-colored clarified butter (ghee), and at the bottom of the saucepan there will be some sediment. What has occurred is that the water has evaporated, and the protein solids have separated from the original butter. Without shaking the saucepan, use a fine-mesh wire skimmer to carefully skim off as much foam as you can from the surface. Strain the clear liquid ghee through several thicknesses of cheesecloth to remove the remaining foam. Discard the foam. Ladle the clarified ghee into a clean glass jar or crock with a tight-fitting lid. Refrigerate or freeze the ghee. At low temperatures, the ghee will become solid. Properly clarified, ghee has a long shelf life. One pound of butter will yield about 1 cup of ghee (about ¾ pound).