Working with Melissa Ramos over at Sexy Food Therapy and based on my studies, one of the staples I have added to my kitchen is ghee, or clarified butter. Ghee has been used in India for cooking and as part of Ayruvedic medicine for centuries. If you were to google ghee you will find numerous articles and studies showing the health benefits of Ghee and its many uses in cooking real food. Its rich in various nutrients such as Vitamin A, C, D, E and K. What about the fact that it is high in saturated fat and you heard to stay away from butter and switch to margarine. Margarine is bad for you. Period. Why? Because of hydrogenated fats and all the other wonderful synthetic compounds added to margarine to prolong its shelf live, to give it that spreadable consistency, and color. Since the advent of margarine in our food chain, heart disease has skyrocketed, not dropped. Studies have shown time and time again that in areas where margarine and vegetable oil shortening are used, rates of heart disease are much higher. Basically its not real food.
What about people with intolerance to lactose and casein? Ghee has all the milk solids boiled off, therefore it is lactose and casein free. My middle child, Amanda, is lactose intolerant and has no issues with my using ghee in most of our cooking. As a double bonus ghee is high in conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), CLA is an essential fatty acid that helps boost metabolism, studies have shown it to prevent some types of cancer in animals, and it is showing potential in PREVENTING heart disease. Now that doesn't mean you can eat a pound of ghee a day, everything in moderation.
Ghee is so easy to make. You start with one pound of preferably grass fed butter, Place in a small sauce pan and heat it over medium to medium-high heat until it boils. Lower the heat and watch the white foam milk solids accumulate and then collapse on top of the melted simmering butter. Once the water has evaporated the sound will change from a boiling sound to more of a frying sound. It will be a clear and golden oil like substance. Afterwards I like to drain mine through a cheesecloth into a clean mason jar and let it chill and solidify. It will keep at room temperature and my jar sits next to my extra virgin coconut oil on the counter beside my stove.
