Ghee: What Is It? Why Should I Use It?

You may not have heard of ghee (pronounced with a hard "g" and silent "h") before, but when it comes to Paleo/Primal cooking, you'll find it's a staple in many kitchens. Let's take a closer look at what it is, why it's good for you, and how you might use it. 

WHAT IS GHEE?

Take grass-fed butter, heat it up to evaporate the water and let the milk solids settle to the bottom. Remove said milk solids and voila, you've got ghee. It was traditionally used for cooking in many south Asian countries such as India, Nepal, and Pakistan, but now has moved into Paleo kitchens around the world. You can actually make your own ghee like Nom Nom Paleo does, but I prefer to save time by buying it from Amazon.  Typically ghee is a solid at room temperature, looking just like butter. These pictures are right after I got it shipped to me in some hot weather, so it's a liquid here. Since the water and milk solids are not present, ghee can be stored at room temperature for months! For more on the amazing history of ghee, head over to Whole30. Did you know traces of ghee have been on pottery from 6,500 B.C.?!

WHY SHOULD I USE GHEE?
Ghee is primarily saturated fat, and by now we should all love and cherish saturated fat from grass-fed animal sources. Also, since 99.9% of the milk solids have been removed, many people allergic to casein and lactose do perfectly fine with ghee. I'm not sure if I believe in a perfect food, but this is darn close! 

WHAT WOULD I USE GHEE FOR?
I use ghee most of the time for cooking, especially sautéing, frying, etc. Basically if a recipe calls for vegetable oil to coat a pan, I use ghee. You really haven't lived if you haven't coated a pan with ghee and then fried your eggs in it. (Ok, well, maybe if you've fried them in bacon grease) I also use olive oil and coconut oil on occasion, but ghee just tastes so darn good (like buttah!) plus it has a higher smoke point due to the lack of milk solids and water. You can also use ghee in any application you would use butter. Sometimes if we have run out of Kerry Gold butter, I'll put ghee on my baked sweet potato. Or I'll even put it in my coffee with coconut oil! And I'm not gonna lie, I've been known to just drink ghee straight out of the container. The possibilities are endless!

Buy ghee from my Amazon store

Top 5 Reasons Why You Need GHEE in Your Life

Do you use ghee in your life? Do you love ghee as much as the next cave(wo)man-wannabe? Do you even know what ghee is? Are you tired of being asked questions? Are you my mommy?

Booyah! I mean, MOOyah

In a nutshell, ghee is one of the best things to cook things in. You probably have cooked with olive oil, canola oil (...:::gasp:::...pre-paleo?), and if you've been in the Paleo world, you've switched over to perhaps coconut oil and bacon grease. Ghee is related to butter, so the consistency and taste will be familiar to you (the taste is a little nuttier). Here are my top 5 reasons why you need ghee in your life:

5. BETTER TO COOK WITH 

Ghee is a highly saturated fat, so it has a high smoke point, thus making it better to cook with over olive oil. (and by now you definitely know better than to cook with canola or corn oil)

4. LACTOSE FREE 

Ghee is clarified butter, meaning the milk solids, sugars, and water have been removed. So those sensitive to dairy can usually withstand ghee.

3. STORAGE FRIENDLY

Since the milk solids, sugar, and water are eliminated, ghee is solid at room temperature and can be stored in a cabinet vs. your refrigerator. (although there's nothing wrong with the fridge)

2. MAKE IT AT HOME 

If you are a do-it-yourselfer, you can make ghee at home. Ideally you'll use grass fed butter such as Kerry Gold. Here are instructions from Tribe of Five. (BTW, this is just a great site in general to check out if you are interested in all things paleo nutrition aka real food)

1. DELICIOUSNESS 

Yes, that's a word. Since ghee is clarified butter, it tastes a lot like butter. In other words, I'd rather have my asparagus and sweet potatoes cooked in ghee instead of coconut oil.

If your not the diy'er, or just want the convenience of buying a jar of ghee, you can find it in most Indian food stores, or head to the interwebs and grab it off Amazon. Here's a link to my Amazon store where you can find different sizes of ghee. The picture below is a smaller 13oz. jar, but in my experience, it's worth just saving money over the long haul and buying the big jar.

time to order a new jar!

Links you probably won't click, but you should:
Mark Sisson on "Cooking with Animal Fats"

Paleo Diet Lifestyle on Ghee

Thoughts on ghee? Have you heard of it or used it?