Ghee

    Do you know the benefits of making Ghee?  Cooking with ghee!  It's really just a version of clarified butter but, different...if you remove the water in butter it becomes shelf stable.  Making ghee entails cooking to remove the moisture:water from butter.  Since the water is removed you not only get a high smoke point for frying, you get a great "crisp" to foods that you would normally pan fry in traditional butter (think salmon and hashbrowns.) If you want tasty popcorn with loads of butter...but, tired of watching your popcorn melt away when you pour the warm melted butter over it - try ghee!!  Since the water is removed, your popcorn stays true to form and doesn't shrivel and melt away!  Enjoy! Diane 

Ghee 

Ingredients: 
4 Sticks Unsalted Sweet Cream Butter  *any decent quality brand
Yield: Approx 2 Cups Ghee 

Directions: 
     Melt your butter in a sauce pan on low.  It's best to use a light colored bottom pot so you can see when your milk solids are browning.  You want to cook the butter at a gentle simmer (you'll see white foam form on top of your butter.) Let the mixture cook, stir the foam out of the way on top to make sure nothing is burning at the bottom of your pan (which means your stove is set too high) eventually the foam (which is milk solids) will settle to the bottom of your pan. You want your mixture bubbling at a simmer (but, not so high its a boil.) The key is to cook the water off and brown the white foam (milk solids.)  It's important to note that you do not want to be scraping down into the bottom of the pan, only moving foam around on top (its mostly a hands off recipe that should take around 20 mins from start to finish.)  After 12 minutes of simmering you should start to see any slight foam left on the top floating is turning a slight brown/tan tinge and often times the yellow will change color slightly as well.  When all the foam is gone and the bubbles on top start to pop up more fast and furious - you can stop and consider your ghee done. I prefer to go just a little longer to get a slightly more nutty flavor to my ghee. If in doubt, stop and consider your ghee done.  Although ghee is very forgiving, you do not want to burn your ghee because it can have a bitter flavor. Remove your pot from stove and let the mixture settle and cool.  Any residual foam should drop down to the bottom.  Place a small sieve over your clean, dry storage container (I use a glass canning jar and a ladle.)  Ladle the ghee into the jar *you leave the milk solids in the bottom of the pot undisturbed...they should be brown but, not burned (these milk solids do not go into your jar.)  You can store ghee on your counter for up to 4 months or in refrigerator for up to a year.  

**Interesting factoid:  Ghee is often used as a religious offering in Hindu culture. (as butter is from a cows milk and cows milk is sacred in India's culture.)

**Kitchen Tip: When using your ghee - make sure to use a clean, dry spoon everytime your dipping into your jar - you do not want to introduce any water back into the ghee which can invite bacteria to grow.