Welcome to day eighteen of my 30 Days of Ayurveda series! Throughout these blogs and videos, I will be sharing some upbeat thoughts and wellness tips, as well as some Ayurvedic tricks and food recommendations to help you lead a balanced life.
Learn here how to make ghee: in Ayurveda, we love to use ghee, also known as clarified butter. We tend to use it both medicinally and in the kitchen. In my Triphala blog, I mentioned how you can use ghee in the morning. Simply combine it with half a teaspoon of local honey (which I have also discussed in a previous blog), and a quarter to a half teaspoon of Triphala powder. Mix it into a paste and eat it to enjoy its great rejuvenating and immune-supporting properties.
In cooking, you can add a teaspoon of ghee to your recipe as the fat medium.
Ghee has so many wonderful properties for the body. We understand it to have a really strong anti-inflammatory property, particularly related to the digestive system. When we talk about intestinal health, ghee releases butyric acid; this is really beneficial for the wall of the colon and helps to build good structure within the colon.
How to Make Ghee
Take a pack of unsalted organic butter and put it in a pan on a low-grade heat. You can hear it in the background popping and cracking: this noise is evaporating water, which is separating the milk solids for us to discard in a moment.
Next, you will need a fine mesh cloth or cheese cloth. If you do not have these items to hand, you could use a clean, brand new J-cloth instead. You will also need a jam jar that has been steam-treated so it is nice and clean. This is where we will store your ghee.
Take your cloth and place it over the top of the jar. Tightly secure it with an elastic band. Push down the top of the cloth to make a little well (or sieve) to catch the milk solids.
Hopefully, the popping and crackling will now begin to settle. It’s hard to name an exact amount of time for this process as every stove and its low heat settings are very different, as is the butter. Ultimately, you are looking/listening for the popping and crackling to get very low. Make sure you remove the butter from the heat before it starts browning.
Slowly pour the mixture through the mesh and into the jar. The mesh will catch the milk solids, which you can then take off and discard. You will then be left with a golden elixir! Leave your ghee to completely cool. When it is cold, you can put the lid on the jar and safely store it. The ghee will keep well at room temperature, so long as every time you use it, you use a clean utensil so you don’t introduce any new bacteria.
Over the next 30 days, I will be sharing even more tips and tricks to help you build some great Ayurvedic routines. Hopefully, they will soon be imbedded in your life and you can progress with them. Be sure to let me know how you’re getting on, and why not share pictures of your homemade ghee? Find me on Instagram @anneheigham and on YouTube.
