Food Recipe How to Make Ghee

 


Is ghee healthier?

Ghee sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? Well, it probably is. The health claims are swirling, but there are very few studies involving ghee itself. Here’s what we do know.

Ghee is almost 50 percent saturated fat. This is unhealthy fat usually found in meat and dairy products. A diet filled with saturated fat can raise LDL (bad) cholesterol levels and in turn, up the risk of heart disease and stroke. Not to mention, the calories from saturated fat can contribute to weight gain.

The American Heart Association advises that no more than 5 to 6 percent of your daily calories come from saturated fat. But it’s best to opt for healthier fats like monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats found in fish, olive oil and nuts.

You may not need the extra butyrate in ghee. Butyrate is a type of fatty acid that plays an important role in your digestive health. While you might have read that this makes ghee healthier, butyrate is actually made naturally in your gut; it’s unlikely you need more from fat.

Ghee does have less acrylamide. Exposure to acrylamide, a chemical that forms when some foods like potatoes are cooked at high temperatures, has been linked to cancer in animal studies. However, there’s not enough evidence linking acrylamide to cancer in humans. Plus, you’re more likely to get exposure from tobacco smoke than food anyway. The Joint Food and Agriculture Organization/World Health Organization Expert Committee on Food Additives does recommend more long-term studies on the topic.

Even so, ghee does have less of the chemical than other cooking oils, like soybean oil and unsaturated cooking oils.

There’s slightly less lactose in ghee. Both butter and ghee have minimal amounts of lactose. While ghee might have slightly less because most of the dairy proteins, like casein, have been removed, most people with lactose intolerance are okay with small amounts of either one.

If you’re super sensitive to lactose to the point that even butter upsets your stomach, you could try ghee as an alternative to see if there’s any improvement in your symptoms.

 

The ghee conversation is complicated. But if you’re wondering whether or not you should add ghee to your kitchen cabinet (no, it doesn’t need to be refrigerated), it’s best to reach for healthier forms of fat.

Choose monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats like olive oil or sunflower oil instead of saturated fats like butter and ghee when you can. You can also reap the health benefits of good fats from foods like avocados, salmon and flaxseed — but remember that all of these foods and oils are high in calories, so again, make sure you’re eating them in moderation.

Occasionally using ghee may be fine for most healthy people as long as you’re not exceeding the recommended daily limit of saturated fat. However, if you have high cholesterol, you’ll want to limit the amount of saturated fat you consume. If you’re very sensitive to lactose and you miss indulging in that occasional buttery flavor, you could try ghee as an alternative.

 

 

How to Make Ghee

1 cup butter

 

Melt the butter in a small heavy.bottomed

saucepan on low heat. Increase the heat to simmer

and let it brown, about 10 minutes or so, or until

the milk solids on the bottom of the pan will start

to brown. Do not let them burn.

Remove from the heat and cool. Skim the foam

from the surface and carefully drain the ghee into

a glass jar, leaving the solids behind. Use in

recipes and store rest in refrigerator for later use.