Food
Make Food Glorious with the Benefits of Ghee
There is a wonderful organic alternative to your everyday veggie oils: Organic Valley Ghee. It’s the easiest cooking oil you will ever work with!
What is Ghee?
Ghee is clarified butter that is cooked longer, leaving behind hints of sweetness and roasted nuts that add depth and richness to food.
Organic Valley Ghee starts off as organic, pasture-raised butter with 80% to 84% butterfat. Then we slowly simmer it to coax out all the excess water. During the simmering process, the lactose and milk solids caramelize slightly, imparting the classic nutty flavor and depth to the remaining oil, and then those solids are filtered out. What's left behind is nearly 100% butterfat and one of the most delicious cooking oils in the world.
From a nutritional perspective, ghee is great. Does ghee have casein — no. It also has no lactose, no salt, and because it’s organic, it’s non-GMO. Organic Valley Ghee is also certified kosher.
Photo by The Real Food Dietitians.
How to Cook With Ghee
Use ghee like you’d use oil or butter in any dish. The ghee smoke point is a whopping 85 to 135 degrees F higher than most other high-heat oils, like canola, olive and coconut oil. That means it’s more versatile and ghee creates less splattering.
Ghee is great for high-heat cooking like sautéing and roasting, as well as for lactose-free baking. Organic Valley offers a number of lactose-free products.
Slow Cooker Sweet Potato Chicken Curry using Organic Valley ghee. Photo by The Real Food Dietitians.
Do I have to Refrigerate Ghee?
There is no need to refrigerate ghee! Like coconut oil, ghee is solid at room temperature, so it’s shelf-stable.
Ghee storage tip: In summer or if your kitchen is very warm, you may want to keep ghee in the refrigerator — it softens very quickly when you take it out — but you don't have to refrigerate ghee.
The History of Ghee
The Indian subcontinent is the birthplace of ghee. People there have been cooking with ghee for thousands of years. It even has roots in the Ayurvedic health approach, which originated more than 3,000 years ago and is still in use today. Ghee is also used in beauty regimens!
Grain-free Chocolate Chunk Pumpkin Brownies. Photo by The Real Food Dietitians.
More Ghee Goodness
Ghee is super versatile! On a cool day, try Slow Cooker Pork and Cider Stew using ghee. Or keep it simple and make a Guacamole Grilled Cheese using ghee.
Don’t forget about snacks and delectable desserts! Try Golden Curry Ghee Popcorn or Salted Ghee Caramel Corn. If you have a hankering for chocolate, you have to try Ghee Fudge. It only takes 5 minutes to prepare and is guaranteed to be a hit.
Quality Organic Ghee
At Organic Valley, we are all about healthy food, healthy animals, a healthy planet and healthy people. Our cows spend plenty of time outdoors and the quality shows in our organic ghee made from the milk of pasture-raised cows. We never use antibiotics, synthetic hormones, toxic pesticides, or GMOs.
Where to Purchase Ghee?
Organic Valley’s product locator shows where to purchase ghee at stores in your area. Find organic ghee with the cooking oils, in the natural foods section, or in the butter fridge. You can also buy ghee online at FreshDirect, or through grocery delivery apps like Instacart and Shipt.
Footnote:
*Did you know there’s a difference between lactose intolerance and dairy allergy? Those who are lactose intolerant may be able to tolerate ghee as a butter alternative. If you have a diagnosed milk protein allergy, ghee is considered casein-free, but we always recommend checking with your physician or allergist before trying ghee.
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