Last Updated on June 26, 2014 by Babita
I grew up watching my mom make clarified butter (ghee) at home. Daily she would boil the milk (a necessity because of the warmer climate in India), collect the cream that would form on the top and freeze it. Then after she had collected enough over the course of days, she would whip it into butter and then melt it to make clarified butter. It was a long process and I tried to emulate it after I came to US. I realized that it was not possible because milk over here is pasteurized and the cream is separated during that process. To make matters worse raw milk is not available in NJ.
So I gave up trying to make ghee and had to depend on my mom to make and send it to me. Clarified butter (ghee) is available in Indian stores over here but I don’t like them. They don’t have the same aroma or the taste of a homemade ghee, and I have to say my mom makes the best of them.
I had seen several blog posts written about making butter from heavy cream. So I decided to take it a step further and make clarified butter from heavy cream. The process is not as time consuming as my mom’s and all you need is a good blender or food processor and a quart of heavy cream.
The first step is to pour a cup and a half of heavy cream into the blender. Blend it on high for a minute. It will first turn into whipped cream and as you continue to blend, it will separate. Once it has separated, pour the butter and liquid through the strainer and rinse it thoroughly. Repeat this step until the whole quart of heavy cream has been used up.
As you can see from the picture below I was able to get at least 3 cups of pure butter.
The next step is to heat the butter on low flame in a heavy sauce pan. You have to allow it to boil away. It can take anywhere from 45 – 60 minutes. You have to keeping skimming the foam that floats on the top. As you can see in the picture below all the butter has melted away leaving some milk solids which will be stuck to the bottom of the pot.
Allow it to cool and then pass it through a strainer (to filter out the leftover milk solids) before storing it in an airtight container. It keeps indefinitely in the refrigerator. I was able to yield almost one and half cup of ghee from one quart of heavy milk. It is not bad price wise. To top it off, it tastes exactly like the ghee my mom makes (I can finally give her a break 🙂 )
You all must be wondering why I am so obsessive over clarified butter (ghee). The reason being; there are many Indian recipes that won’t taste great unless you use ghee. It has an appetizing aroma and a nutty flavor that cannot be substituted with any other kind of fat. To learn more about clarified butter click here (Wikipedia).
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Which brand heavy cream you use? Because I am also missing taste of home made ghee!
Hello Rupal, I don’t have a specific brand. I usually shop at ShopRite or Walmart and buy whatever they have in stock.
Hi , can we make it with half and half milk ? Which kind is best for Malai or we can get directly butter ?
You have to use Heavy cream to get butter. You cannot use half and half. If you want to only make ghee then you can get the butter blocks from stores and follow the steps to make ghee.
I’m going to pin this! I love Indian food, so I’m excited to know how to have ghee for the recipes.
Thank you Liz
This is a great post. I have heard of ghee but never realized you used it in so many Indian dishes
I don’t think I have heard of ghee before today I have to admit – going to have to ask my Mum about it 🙂 x
I have never heard of ghee before. Thanks so much for sharing this – if I make Indian food, I will do my best to remember this. 🙂
I love the idea of making homemade butter. The taste must be really good and I could imagine how great it tastes on fresh bread.
What an interesting process your mom goes through for ghee. I am happy you have found an alternative to make for your recipes!
I buy ghee from Trader Joes’ but I’d like to try it myself. THanks for the recipe!
Wow, make your own butter? How awesome!
this is good to know i’ve had a few recipes pass my way that calls for clarified butter. thank you
I really do love clarified butter, it’s a treat for me. Every time I’ve tried to make it though, I fail.
I had no idea how important Ghee is to Indian dishes. This is great to know! I love Indian food; so thank you! This will make a huge difference in my recipes!
How great to be able to make your own butter. I didn’t know it was this simple. Will have to try one day.
I never heard of that butter. Does sound like it would be tasty!
So is Ghee like a natural butter? I love all the work you said your mom put into this.. what a great mom and great memory for you! Glad you found a way to make it your own.
I had always seen Ghee in recipes and never knew what it was, let alone how to make it.
That is great to know. The only butter I’ve ever made is honey butter, but this would be great in so many things.