Ghee is a type of clarified butter. It’s more concentrated in fat than butter, as its water and milk solids have been removed.
It has been used in Indian and Pakistani cultures for thousands of years. The term comes from the Sanskrit word meaning “sprinkled.” Ghee was created to prevent butter from spoiling during warm weather.
In addition to cooking, it’s used in the Indian alternative medicine system Ayurveda, in which it’s known as ghrita.
Given that its milk solids have been removed, ghee does not require refrigeration and can be kept at room temperature for several weeks. In fact, like coconut oil, it may become solid when kept at cold temperatures.
SUMMARY
Ghee is a type of clarified butter that’s stable at room temperature. It has been used in Indian cooking and Ayurvedic medicine since ancient times.
Ghee and butter have similar but not identical nutrient profiles. Compared to butter, ghee may contain more fat but contains no lactose.
Per the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, if you have a casein allergy you should avoid both butter and ghee. People with intolerances should be fine consuming ghee since the lactose and casein amounts are so low (3).
Culinary uses
Butter and ghee are rich in saturated fatty acids, which can handle high temperatures without becoming damaged.
Heating ghee also appears to produce much less of the toxic compound acrylamide than heating vegetable and seed oils.
In fact, one study found that soybean oil produced more than 10 times as much acrylamide as ghee when each was heated to 320°F (160°C) (4Trusted Source).
Furthermore, ghee has a high smoke point, which is the temperature at which fats become volatile and begin to smoke.
Its smoke point is 485°F (250°C), which is substantially higher than butter’s smoke point of 350°F (175°C). Therefore, when cooking at very high temperatures, ghee has a distinct advantage over butter.
However, while ghee is more stable at high heat, butter may be more suitable for baking and cooking at lower temperatures because of its sweeter, creamier taste.
SUMMARY
Ghee and butter have similar nutritional profiles, but ghee may be a better choice for those with lactose or casein sensitivities. While ghee is typically better for high temperature cooking, butter has a sweeter taste that may be more suitable for baking.
Thanks to its impressive nutrient profile, ghee has been associated with several health benefits.
Here are a few of the potential benefits of ghee:
Boosts vitamin A intake. Ghee can help ramp up your intake of vitamin A, a fat-soluble vitamin that’s important for maintaining eye health, skin health, immune function, and more (5Trusted Source, 6Trusted Source).
Could support heart health. Ghee is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which may help decrease inflammation and protect against heart disease (7Trusted Source, 8Trusted Source, 9Trusted Source).
SUMMARY
Ghee is rich in important nutrients like vitamin A, omega-3 fatty acids, and conjugated linoleic acid. It may also help reduce gut inflammation and support heart health.
People’s responses to saturated fat intake are highly variable.
Those whose LDL (bad) cholesterol levels tend to increase in response to high saturated fat intake may want to limit their ghee or butter intake to 1–2 tablespoons per day.
Another concern is that during the production of ghee at high heat, its cholesterol may become oxidized. Oxidized cholesterol is linked to an increased risk of several diseases, including heart disease (10Trusted Source).
According to one older analysis, ghee contains oxidized cholesterol but fresh butter does not (11Trusted Source).
Consuming an excess amount of ghee can lead to increase weight gain and increase risk for obesity. Also, consuming excess saturated fat can increase risk for heart disease and stroke (12Trusted Source).
SUMMARY
The potential adverse effects of ghee include increased LDL (bad) cholesterol levels and the formation of oxidized cholesterol during its production.
Information courtesy of Healthline.com
Click the link below for a simple recipe on How to Make Ghee
